Lloydminster voters chose to stay in Canada by a narrow 52.1 per cent in Monday’s referendum, according to unofficial results from Elections Alberta.
Across all 22 Lloydminster polls, 1,521 voters, or 52.1 per cent, backed Option 1. It said Alberta should remain a province in Canada.
Another 1,399 voters, or 47.9 per cent, chose Option 2. It asked the Alberta government to start the legal process required under the Canadian Constitution to hold a binding provincial referendum on whether Alberta should separate from Canada.
Option 1 led by 122 votes, or 4.2 percentage points.
It led at all three Lloydminster voting locations. The margin was 640 to 612 at Southridge Church, 372 to 349 at Legacy Centre and 509 to 438 at Border Inn.
With 81% of the polls in at 845 a.m. Oct. 20. Alberta as a whole voted for Option 1 by a wider margin. Provincewide, 1,404,576 votes, or 75.5 per cent, went to Option 1. Another 454,815, or 24.5 per cent, went to Option 2.
Those totals reflect 81 per cent of voting locations reporting. Lloydminster’s share for Option 1 sits more than 23 percentage points below the provincial figure.
In the Vermilion-Lloydminster-Wainwright riding, 55 of 66 polls had reported as of Tuesday morning. Option 1 had 10,790 votes, or 60.6 per cent. Option 2 had 7,011, or 39.4 per cent. Some Wainwright polls had yet to report.
Riding and provincial figures will change as remaining polls report. Elections Alberta is scheduled to release official results on Oct. 29.
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