July 29, 2020 – Saskatchewan’s Chief Electoral Officer is encouraging everyone who wants to participate in the province’s democratic process to consider working the upcoming provincial election. This includes teachers and other education support staff who want to, and are able to, participate on election day, October 26.
“I want to be clear that no one is being mandated to work the upcoming election and that has never been part of any discussion,” said Dr. Michael Boda, Saskatchewan’s Chief Electoral Officer. “This is a great opportunity to get involved in our democracy in a way that is completely optional.”
“Schools have always been at the heart of our communities. For the past several elections, we have encouraged teachers to bring students to observe voting see democracy in action.”
“Because there is a professional development day on election day, there is now a unique opportunity for interested teachers (social studies teachers, for example) to experience firsthand how elections are administered and to share that with their students in the years ahead.”
Elections Saskatchewan has been working with the Ministry of Education, the Saskatchewan School Boards Association and the Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation for many weeks to determine whether there is an effective way that educators and support staff can become involved in the election. Administering the upcoming general election is expected to require more than 13,000 workers throughout the entire province.
“As Chief Electoral Officer, I need to work with individual school divisions to determine what is viable in their community context. There are contractual obligations that have to met and it’s not my place to determine that,” said Dr. Boda. “From my discussions with the Ministry, the SSBA and the STF, I have found that we are all on the same page that it’s essential that we guard our democratic traditions and we simply want to encourage everyone to become involved this October.”
The presence of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) will make this a unique election for the province. Elections Saskatchewan is working to make voting safer for workers and voters. Learn more here.
Elections Saskatchewan (ESK) is the province’s nonpartisan election management body and an independent office of the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan. ESK directs and supervises the administration of provincial electoral events, including the 2020 provincial election. More information on becoming an election worker can be found at www.elections.sk.ca/takepart.
For more information contact:
Tim Kydd
Senior Director, Outreach & Communications
Elections Saskatchewan
306.537.9211
tim.kydd@elections.sk.ca