Elections Alberta has secured a court injunction requiring a pro independence organization to remove a publicly posted database containing personal information of millions of registered voters across Alberta, after officials raised urgent privacy concerns.
The order was issued by the Court of King’s Bench of Alberta following an emergency application by Elections Alberta. The agency asked the court to intervene after discovering that the provincial List of Electors had been made accessible online. The database includes names, addresses, postal codes, electoral divisions, voting areas, and unique identification numbers tied to more than 2.9 million voters.
Court proceedings confirmed that the electoral list had originally been provided legally to the Republican Party of Alberta, a provincial party supporting Alberta independence. However, how the data later became publicly available through a separate group remains unclear. The injunction requires the organization responsible for posting the information to immediately remove the database and provide details about individuals who accessed it.
Legal counsel representing Elections Alberta told the court the information involved is highly confidential and that swift action was necessary to prevent further exposure. Officials said the urgency increased after media inquiries suggested the database could attract wider public attention if it remained accessible online.
Elections Alberta emphasized that its internal systems were not breached and that the situation appears to involve misuse of data that had been legitimately distributed under strict legal conditions. Provincial law limits access to voter lists to authorized political parties, candidates, MLAs, constituency associations, and election officials for specific election related purposes only.
The agency also noted that each version of the electoral list includes unique tracking markers designed to help investigators identify the source of any unauthorized sharing. Officials warned that violating rules governing the use of electoral data can result in administrative penalties of up to $100,000 and may carry the possibility of imprisonment if prosecuted under provincial legislation.
