Just a brief note to offer an update on the close of nominations for the 28th General Election. I will be in contact next week with more information on the provision of the Revised Voters List and plans for advance voting.
Close of Nominations
The nomination period for Saskatchewan’s 28th General Election came to an end at 2 p.m. today.
I am asking that you pass along my sincere thanks to all of your candidates – placing your name onto the ballot is an act of public participation that deserves the highest respect. While only 61 individuals can move forward as Members of the Legislative Assembly, all candidates are participating in a process that is vital to the health of our democracy.
As a courtesy, I wanted to provide a copy of the attached list of officially nominated candidates (by party) to you as Chief Official Agents. A complete list of officially nominated candidates, both by party and by constituency, will soon be available on our website at:
https://www.elections.sk.ca/candidates-political-parties/candidates/#List.
Next Steps – Ballot Printing
With the close of nominations, our Returning Officers and Operations team will turn their attention to the next major step in the electoral process – the printing of ballots. Members of our Field Leadership Team have already been in contact with printers throughout the province to make arrangements and confirm specifications. Over the next two days, printers will provide ballot proofs which will be first inspected by our Returning Officers and then double checked by our head office team. No ballots will be printed without formal approval from a senior manager here at Elections Saskatchewan. All of this is done to ensure the highest accuracy for the final printed ballots that will be used for voting.
Next Steps – Legislated Advertising
The Election Act, 1996 requires Elections Saskatchewan to place a number of advertisements in newspapers across the province throughout the election process. Earlier this month we ran an ads detailing the public’s right to review the voters list and make revisions – the requirement for that ad can be found in Section 26(3) of the Act.
Beginning on Monday, we will begin running out a second legislatively required advertisement. Section 51(2) and 51(3) require my office to run listings of the names, political affiliations (if any), address and occupations of every candidate for election. This advertisement must also include the name and address of every candidate’s business manager and information on when voting will take place. You will see these ads run throughout the province next week – in many cases the exact date of distribution depends on the printing date of weekly newspapers.
Over the next week, I will offer detailed information on the Revised Voters Lists and changes to advance voting locations. If you have questions or comments on a specific topic that you would like my office to formally address, let me know and I will consider it for inclusion in a future communique.