On the eve of advance voting, I will provide just a few brief messages on our plans for advance voting as well as a project of importance to Elections Saskatchewan making improvements in the electoral cycle ahead. Finally, I have one update on the revised voters list.
Advance Voting Begins Tomorrow
Advance voting will begin across the province tomorrow at 3 p.m. As a reminder, advance polls will be held:
Please remind your candidate representatives and other volunteers who will be working on election day to vote at an advance poll.
Advance Voting Turnout
After each day of advance voting, we will be posting turnout numbers (from that day as well as cumulative numbers) to our website at https://www.elections.sk.ca/election-results/. You will of course know that these are turnout numbers and not results – ballots from advance polls are not counted until election night.
These numbers will be updated daily by 1:00 p.m. Please consult this site after every day of advance voting for updated numbers.
Election Assessment – Observation Program
In recent months, I have been in contact with you regarding an Election Assessment project that I am leading. Back in January, I offered a very preliminary introduction to this project and I would like to provide further details on one component today.
In order to understand what does and doesn’t work in the election system, I need data on how well our policies and processes are carried out in the field during advance voting and on election day. To that end, I have arranged for a number of volunteer Observers, from other election management bodies across the country as well as election administrators from the City of Regina, to attend our polling stations and observe the act of voting. The Observers will have pre-determined checklists of processes that they will check. Every Observer will carry an identification badge as well as a letter signed by me authorizing that individual to be in a polling location.
Observers will be present in 13 constituencies throughout the province on the last day of advance voting (Saturday, April 2) and on election day, Monday, April 4. The results of this Observation program, as well as other components related to the assessment of the election, will inform my post-election reporting as well as possible recommendations for future legislative change. Please be in contact with me if you have any questions regarding this project.
Revised List – Additional Updates
After we produced the final voters list on Friday, we discovered that some revisions taken on March 23 did not get entered into the voter registry. We also discovered that some mobile poll records had not been properly allocated to the respective mobile poll. Over the weekend, we entered the revision records and moved the affected voters from their existing residences into the mobile polls.
The overall number of registered voters, now at 750,941, did not change significantly but the allocation of voters in various constituencies and polling divisions has changed. We have produced a new voters list and also have a listing of all constituencies and polling divisions affected by these changes. If you are interested in this information, please contact Jennifer Colin at Jennifer.Colin@elections.sk.ca and we will provide it to you.
I realize these last minute changes and edits are less than ideal from a planning standpoint. That said, my team worked very hard throughout the Easter weekend to clarify and correct these issues and mitigate the impact on voters. I firmly believe that voter registration is often overlooked as a critical aspect of voting and will make every effort to correctly facilitate this process.
As always, I would be happy to discuss any comments or questions going forward. Thank you for your attention throughout this process.