Please see below for updates on the 2018 expense limits and voter registration.
2018 Expense Limits
Before the holidays, I sent you a communique indicating that 2018 expense limits would likely be available around the third week of January. I wanted to let all of you know that the Ministry of Finance has advised that the Consumer Price Index (CPI) information, which is used to calculate the limits, will not be available before January 26. This means that we will not be able to complete our calculations before the week of January 29. I expect that we will have updated numbers to you by the end of that week. As promised and consistent with past practice, I will send you a communique once the limits have been updated.
Voter Registration Portal Now Open
With by-elections in the future, we have re-opened our online Voter Registration portal. Please direct anyone who may need to update their voter information to https://voterregistration.elections.sk.ca. It is also worth noting that while we expect by-elections to occur in certain constituencies, anyone in the province (in any constituency) can update or check their information while the portal is open.
Voter Registration Update – eHealth
On June 29, 2017, I sent out a communique advising of a situation affecting the data sharing agreement between eHealth and Elections Saskatchewan. At the time, the exchange of information between our two organizations that supports the permanent register of voters had ceased so that we could resolve an issue with the legislative provisions making this data sharing possible.
I wanted to let all of you know that, given changes to The Health Information Protection Regulations, eHealth now clearly has the legislative authority to share information with Elections Saskatchewan for the purposes of maintaining our voter registry. This is very good news as the data maintained by eHealth is our best source of information on voters in Saskatchewan. As of mid-December, we have been working to update our register of voters for the period of time for which data sharing was paused. This work will be completed very soon and, moving forward, we will be updating the register monthly as we were before this situation developed. With these developments, I am confident that we will be able offer high quality voters lists for pending by-elections.
If you have any questions on the permanent register of voters or on how it is maintained, please contact Jennifer Colin at Jennifer.Colin@elections.sk.ca or 306.787.4061.
Saskatoon Fairview Party Returns
Finally, just a quick reminder that registered political party return of election expenses for the Saskatoon Fairview by-election are due on Wednesday, March 7, 2018. If you have questions, please contact Jennifer Colin at the contact information listed above.
Thank you for your attention to these matters. A happy new year to you all! I look forward to working with you throughout 2018.
Dr. Michael Boda
Chief Electoral Officer
Province of Saskatchewan