City Will Publish Links to Candidate Websites and Social Media on the Election Page as They Are Submitted
File photo- May 2025
An email was sent out to council candidates yesterday saying that the City of Medicine Hat would publish candidate links to their websites and/or social media on the City of Medicine Hat election page on September 23 2025. This was contrary to what I was promised in March. Chief Electoral Officer Andres Cardona Arias has since corrected the oversight; the Medicine Hat Owl has confirmed that the links will be published as they are submitted, starting this week.
Thank you Chief Electoral Officer Andres Cardona Arias!
Background
Feb 28 I filed my nomination papers Feb 28.
March 3 I received an email from Chief Electoral Officer Andres Cardona Arias asking me -
Do you have a website or email we could direct people to for campaign info? We offer this to every candidate.
I told him that my website was not up yet, that I would contact him when it was. I received no response to that e-mail. (If there was a set date then, I would have expected a response like "no rush, it won't be posted until 4 weeks before the election".)
Recent Events
June 27 I sent Mr Arias an email with my website address saying -
I have just published my campaign website and would like to accept your offer to publish the link to it.
No response.
July 2 I sent an email to the City Clerk's office saying -
Please let me know where people can find the links to campaign websites, etc.
No response.
July 8 I received this email
Good morning,
I hope you had a wonderful weekend. I’m writing to inform you of an exciting opportunity that will become available on Tuesday, September 23rd of this year.
Candidates who submit a link to their campaign website and/or social media profiles by the deadline—September 22nd at 11:55 p.m.—and do not withdraw their candidacy on September 23rd will have their submitted links posted on the City’s Election website. All links will be published simultaneously, regardless of when they were submitted, to ensure fairness among all candidates.
Please send your campaign website and social media links directly to me.
I sent back an email explaining what I was promised on March 3 and asked
Question - When was the decision made to set a particular date for the publishing of the websites? Who made that decision?
Today
I received this e-mail
Good morning Kelly,
I want to start by taking ownership of my error of forgetting about my original offer to post a link to your campaign website on the City's Election website. I sincerely apologize for this error and for the confusion caused by the email I sent yesterday.
I will honour the offer I made when you submitted your nomination papers. A link to your campaign's website will be posted on the City's Election website by the end of this week. In addition, the team responsible for the City's Election website has agreed to link to your campaign's social media pages.
This offer will also be extended to every other candidate, and links will be posted as they are received. The offer and timeline will be entered into the Candidates Information Package to ensure that is available to prospective candidates and members of the public.
My apologies again for this oversight,
Later this morning this e-mail was sent out to all candidates.
Good morning Candidates,
I hope you're doing well. Yesterday, I sent an email outlining a deadline for submitting campaign website links, stating that all links would be posted together on September 23rd.
Shortly after, I was reminded of a commitment I made in March to publish links to candidates’ campaign websites as they are submitted. I apologize for forgetting this earlier commitment and for any confusion caused.
In light of this, all candidates are now welcome to submit links to their campaign websites and social media pages. These will be posted on the City’s Election website in the order they are received.
This information will also be added to the Candidate Information Package to ensure future candidates are aware of the opportunity.
Thank you for your understanding, and my apologies again for the confusion.
#yxh #yxhelection #civicelection #medicinehat #chiefelectoralofficer
