Potential Candidates, ELMS & Other Items
Potential Candidates
If your registered political party would like potential candidates posted on our website (reminder – no candidate can be officially nominated until the writs of election are issued), you must complete and submit Form E-516 – Notice of Selection of Potential Candidate by Registered Political Party (attached). This form can be found on our website under https://www.elections.sk.ca/candidates-political-parties/forms-and-guides/ and can be submitted individually for each candidate or can be submitted as a composite using Form E-516C (also attached). You must also submit a completed Form E-401 – Appointment / Consent of the Financial Agent of a Candidate.
If any of your potential candidates require confirmation of their status as such to open a bank account, please send an email with the candidate’s name, along with their E-401 to Aaron Thompson at aaron.thompson@elections.sk.ca. Please direct any questions on this process to Aaron.
Information from Conflict of Interest Commissioner
Saskatchewan’s Conflict of Interest Commissioner is an Officer of the Legislative Assembly much like the Chief Electoral Officer. The Commissioner is independent of government and works with Members of the Legislative Assembly to reconcile private interests and public duties to encourage a culture of integrity among Saskatchewan elected officials. The mandate of the office is to promote public confidence in elected officials as they conduct public business.
The current Conflict of Interest Commissioner, the Honourable Maurice Herauf, has asked that I share information from his office with you so that you can make it available to your candidates and potential candidates. Please visit the bulletins section of the Commissioner’s website at https://www.saskcoic.ca/publications/bulletins/ to view information that is relevant to candidates seeking provincial election.
If you have questions on the information found at the link, please contact the Commissioner’s office at 306-787-0800 or coic@saskcoic.ca.
Polling Division Update
A few weeks back, I provided you with information on our progress toward creating polling divisions for the new constituencies that will be in place for our next general election. A key step in that process was passing the legislated by-election “cut off” date of February 26, allowing us to fully transition our election management system to these new constituencies.
Our returning officers have completed the important work of reviewing polling divisions and ensuring they reflect local knowledge and circumstances. This means that we are in the final stages of putting these changes into place and will soon be able to provide the polling division maps that will be used for the upcoming general election.
As mentioned in my last message, we are happy to provide you with a printed copy of all 61 constituency maps if you would like them. Please email oceo.admin@elections.sk.ca and we will order a set for your party. We anticipate that shape files along with digital version of the maps will be available and posted to the maps section of our website the week of March 11.
Updated Voters List
Once the polling division work is completed, new voters list extracts will be produced reflecting the new constituencies and polling divisions. These extracts will be placed on our secure sharing site and should be available before the end of March.
If you want more information or have questions on how to access the secure sharing site, please contact Son Lu, A/Director of IT at son.lu@elections.sk.ca and he will be able to assist you.
Fiscal Period Returns – April 30, 2024 Deadline
The deadline for each registered political party to file its audited fiscal period return is Tuesday, April 30, 2024. The 2023 fiscal period is now available in ELMS for entry. Please note that due to server updates, ELMS will be unavailable from 6 p.m. on Friday, March 1 to no later than 10 p.m. on Saturday, March 2.
Also, a reminder that unlike election expense returns, fiscal period returns do not have auditor access within the system. Returns will need to be provided to your auditor in hard copy or as an electronic file outside of ELMS. Questions on this process can be directed to Aaron Thompson.
Sincerely,
Dr. Michael Boda
Chief Electoral Officer
Province of Saskatchewan