In elections, returning officers have a lot of power. They compile voter lists, oversee polling staff and count ballots once the polls have closed. If there’s a tie between two candidates after a recount, the returning officer — who is appointed by the government — can cast a ballot and break the tie. So when the Edmonton Journal and the CBC reported on February 12 that several returning officers have strong connections to the ruling Progressive Conservative party, other party leaders nearly lost it.

“That’s crazy,” says Green Party leader George Read. “We have a crazy democratic system here.” Ralph Soldan, the returning officer in Conservative leader Ed Stelmach’s riding of Fort Saskatchewan-Vegreville, gave money to Stelmach’s 2006 leadership campaign, according to the Journal. One Edmonton returning officer, Allie Wojtaszek, had pictures of her and her husband at numerous Conservative events on her Flickr page (they’ve since been removed, but screen shots are still on the CBC website).

Here in Calgary, Robin Darsi, the returning officer in Calgary-Currie, ran unsuccessfully against Arthur Kent for the Tory nomination. Lynn Warkentin, the returning officer in Calgary-Montrose, is married to the chairman of the Conservatives’ nomination committee in the riding. In Calgary-North Hill, returning officer Andrea Grubbe is listed as the secretary of the riding’s Conservative constituency association on its website.

According to the Journal, more than 20 other returning officers held Conservative memberships between 2002 and 2006. Alberta’s Election Act forbids returning officers from engaging “in political activity on behalf of any political party or candidate,” but that rule only comes into effect once they’ve been appointed.