A CBC article reports that Albertans are “overwhelmed” by the questions to be voted upon, and a CTV interview with Mario Canseco of Research Co. called the ballot phrasing convoluted and unclear.

Good referendum questions are short, singular, and matched to the power the vote actually has. None of the 10 questions being presented to Alberta citizens on October 19 fit those criteria well.

Question 5, on proof of citizenship to vote in provincial elections, is the clearest of the set. It names the documents and the election it would cover. It asks, "Do you support the government of Alberta introducing a law requiring individuals to provide proof of citizenship, such as a passport, birth certificate or citizenship card, to vote in an Alberta provincial election?" It offers a clear yes-or-no question and offers only 33 words.

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Question 8 eats up 58 words with, “Do you support the Government of Alberta working with the governments of other willing provinces to amend the Canadian Constitution to allow provinces to opt out of federal programs that intrude on provincial jurisdiction such as health care, education, and social services, without a province losing any of the associated federal funding for use in its social programs?”

That gives a voter quite a bit to chew on while standing at the ballot box.

Question 9 is a jumbled word salad asking, "Do you support the government of Alberta working with the governments of other willing provinces to amend the Canadian Constitution to better protect provincial rights from federal interference by giving a province's laws dealing with provincial or shared areas of constitutional jurisdiction priority over federal laws when the province's laws and federal laws conflict?"

The total word count when the 10 questions are combined is 432. An average person can read that in a couple of minutes if English is their primary language, and it could take a couple more minutes if they take time to ponder each question. That is a lot to consume while standing with a pencil in hand at a voting station with a lineup behind you.

Question 10 is convoluted, but due to it addressing a potential path toward Alberta’s independence, it has garnered the most attention. Most people preparing to vote understand the direction of the question and which way they want to vote on it.

Questions 1 through 9 are long and not all clear. That’s why campaigns have been encouraging people to vote either “no to the nine” or “yes to the nine” rather than trying to parse out the different questions.

Citizens will figure out what the questions mean and will make their decisions to the best of their ability. The referendum isn’t unworkable, but it does appear to have been made unnecessarily complicated, which will confuse some people. Future referenda should focus on more brevity and clarity.