Albertan, 97, extends hospital stay just so he can vote in federal election

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As Elections Canada announces the numbers, Doug Southam makes sure his vote will count

Published Apr 22, 2025  •  Last updated 10 minutes ago  •  3 minute read

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Doug Southam votes from his hospital bed in Leduc after Elections Canada arranged to have special ballot voting at the hospital on Tuesday, April 22, 2025. Photo by Sandra Southam /supplied

The number is 7.3 million and counting.

That’s the estimated number of people who cast ballots in advance polls, Elections Canada announced Tuesday. It’s a new record and a 25 per cent rise from the number of advance voters in 2021.

But more votes are coming in, via special ballots.

Doug Southam wanted to add to that number. He’s a patient at Leduc Community Hospital and celebrated his 97th birthday last week from his bed — if you can call a birthday party in a hospital a “celebration.”

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Southam, father of Postmedia photographer Greg Southam, wanted to go home after being admitted to the hospital with pneumonia a little more than two weeks ago. But on Tuesday, when he was told he was OK to leave the ward, he asked to extend his stay — just for a little bit. That’s because he was scheduled to receive a hospital visit from an Elections Canada official who was going to help him vote via special ballot.

‘Country over self’

Tuesday was the final day for Elections Canada officials to visit hospital patients, and Doug Southam wanted to make sure his vote was cast.

“He wanted to place country over self,” said his daughter Sandra Southam.

While officials going to hospitals isn’t new, Elections Canada has made concerted efforts to raise voter participation. The 2021 election had a voter participation of 62.6 per cent, the lowest since 2011. Between 1958 and 1993, voter participation dipped below 70 per cent only once. Since then, the country hasn’t gotten that close to the 70 per cent range.

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“Electors who are hospitalized during the election period will be able to register and vote by special ballot from their hospital room,” Leanne Nyirfa, a spokeswoman for Elections Canada, said.

“Patients will be advised in advance when special ballot voting will take place. An election officer will visit patients either by going room to room or by appointment and help them fill out their application. They can also help the patient cast their ballot, if needed.”

Last week, Elections Canada placed about 120 polling stations in campuses across Canada, including the University of Alberta, MacEwan University and NAIT. The move was made to increase participation among voters aged 18 to 24. In 2021, less than half of eligible voters in that age group actually made it to the ballot boxes. The Vote on Campus initiative brought in 75,471 votes — 8,856 of which came from Alberta. When the program was announced, chief electoral officer Stephane Perrault said it had the potential to reach up to 1.4 million students who are eligible to vote.

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As well, about 400 advance polling stations were placed in Indigenous communities across Canada, up from 125 in the previous election.

A special ballot differs from the advance ballot. An advance ballot looks just like the one you’d see on election day, with candidates in your riding placed in alphabetical order. A special ballot requires the voter to identify the home riding and write in the name of the selected candidate. Just because you are in the Leduc hospital doesn’t mean you reside in the riding, so the elections officers use the special ballots to ensure patients are voting based on their home addresses.

A little more than 17.2 million votes were cast in the 2021 election, which delivered a minority Liberal government, so based on the advance polling numbers, it would take less than 10 million votes on April 28 to be counted to eclipse that number.

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