Official results released for the 2025 Lethbridge Municipal and School Election

With the appropriate checks and balances and an audit now complete, official results have been released for the 2025 Lethbridge Municipal and School Election.

The next City Council will include Mayor-Elect Blaine Hyggen and the Council-Elect of Belinda Crowson, Jenn Schmidt-Rempel, Rajko Dodic, Ryan Wolfe, Al Beeber, Rufa Doria, Mark Campbell and Ryan Parker.

“We congratulate the Mayor-Elect and Council-Elect and look forward to working with them for the 2025-2029 term,” says Returning Officer Bonnie Hilford.

Due to Provincial legislation changes with Bill 20, every vote was hand counted using the grass skirt method.

“An election of this magnitude takes a lot of planning and dedicated people to ensure voters can successfully cast their ballot,” says Hilford. “A big thank you to the hundreds of residents who were hired to work the election and to count the ballots – we could not have done it without you!”

The City of Lethbridge used fewer voting stations compared to past elections. Larger and consolidated voting stations were needed to accommodate more workers due to the Province’s new Elector’s Registry. The voting stations also required hard-wired secure internet. Most smaller venues used in the last Municipal election do not have that technology.

“This approach was a cost-effective and efficient decision for the City taxpayers,” says Hilford. “We kept our costs as low as possible, while adhering to the Province’s new regulations, and stayed within our budget to conduct this election. But, even doing this, the cost of the 2025 Election increased by more than $300,000 and the total price tag was double compared to 2021.”

Lethbridge’s budget for the 2025 Election was $600,000, which included eight days of advance voting. By comparison:

• Red Deer’s original Election budget estimate was $1.5 million, with five days of advance voting
• St. Albert, which also had five days of advance voting, estimates the total cost of Bill 20 accommodations at nearly $670,000

In 2025, Lethbridge had 17,152 people cast a ballot, which is 19.35 per cent of the 88,647 eligible voters. This is significantly lower than the past several Municipal and School elections, which have averaged between 30 and 35 per cent for the last five general elections. Lower than average voter turnouts were reported across the province.

School Board Trustees

Official results have also been released for the 2025 School Board Trustee contests.

The seven Trustees-Elect for the Lethbridge Public School Division are Cheryl Meheden, Christine Light, Kristina Larkin, Allison Purcell, Brooke Culley, Craig H. Whitehead and Tiffany Hill.

The five Trustees-Elect for Holy Spirit Roman Catholic Separate School Division Ward 2 are Carmen Mombourquette, Linda Ellefson, Tricia Doherty, Bob Spitzig and Roisin Gibb.

Full Election results can be viewed at www.lethbridge.ca/election.

The Swearing-In Ceremony for the Mayor-Elect and Council-Elect will take place on Monday, October 27, at 1:30 p.m. The event is by invite only, but there will be a livestream on the City’s YouTube channel.

For Public Inquiries:
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