Lethbridge-West voters heading to the polls on December 18

A person fills out their ballot in the 2023 Alberta election on May 29, 2023.

Some Lethbridge residents will be heading to the polls next month to elect their next MLA.

The Government of Alberta announced the Lethbridge-West byelection will take place on Dec. 18.

Candidate nominations will be open from Nov. 20 to Nov. 30 at 2 p.m.

Advance voting will run from Dec. 10 to Dec. 14. Voting places will then be open from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. on election day.

Due to the Canada Post strike, the province said “Where to Vote” cards will not be mailed to voters.

For advance voting, there will be two voting locations. For voting on election day, voters can find their voting location online.

Voters can also contact Elections Alberta at 1-877-422-VOTE (8683) for help.

Who's running?

Last year, Shannon Phillips of the NDP claimed the seat with 12,083 votes – 53 per cent of the vote.

Phillips resigned on July 1, citing a desire to get out of the public eye and spend more time with family.

The Alberta NDP selected Rob Miyashiro as the candidate for Lethbridge-West in September.

He says he's "ready to go" and wants to "move this fight forward."

"I think we just need to keep on pushing forward and moving forward some of the things that Shannon pushed forward and make sure that the leftward West has a voice in the legislature and I think that's the most important thing, that we have someone advocating for the needs of Lethbridge consistently," he said.

"We've been knocking on doors, like I said, from the beginning of September.

"Health care, No. 1 thing by far. People are concerned that they might lose their doctor next or people are concerned because they just lost their doctor, or people are concerned because they can't get in to see specialists or they have to go to Calgary to see specialists."

Miyashiro will go up against UCP nominee and current Lethbridge city councillor John Middleton-Hope.

Middleton-Hope announced he would be taking an unpaid leave of absence from his role with the City of Lethbridge on Wednesday.

He says there's "a lot of excitement" behind his run.

"The MLAs are excited. The party is excited. The constituency association is excited about it. Folks that we encounter on the street are excited about turning this riding blue," he said.

"We talk about public safety, we talk about education, we talk about health care and we talk about infrastructure.

"These are the key pieces that people are talking about at the doors. Some want to spend a little bit more time on one particular topic but by and large, those are the areas that most people are concerned about."

Premier Danielle Smith previously said she was waiting for NDP leader Naheed Nenshi to declare his plans to get a seat in the legislature. Nenshi will need an NDP caucus member to step down to open a seat for him.

The province said there are 36,560 electors in Lethbridge-West. Voter turnout was 61.5 per cent in the 2023 provincial election.

With files from Quinn Keenan