Updated Legislation, CEO Directives & Other News
Updates to The Election Act, 1996
In my last communique to you, I mentioned that Bill 202, The Election Amendment Act, 2019, was passed by the Legislative Assembly before Christmas and that the Bill would introduce a number of changes to The Election Act, 1996 of relevance to you. I am happy to advise that the amendments made in Bill 202 have been put into force as of Friday, January 31. An updated version of The Election Act, 1996 should be available soon.
I am hopeful that representatives from all parties will be able to join us here in Regina on March 4 for an overview of the changes brought forward by Bill 202. For more information on that event, see further down in this Communique.
2020 Expense Limits
Expense limits for 2020 are now available and have been posted on our website at https://www.elections.sk.ca/candidates-political-parties/electoral-finance/expenditures-and-election-expense-limits/.
You will see that there is no longer an adjusted expense limit for candidates and registered political parties based on the number of names found on the voters list for a constituency. The adjusted limit was removed as part of the changes made by Bill 202. In practice, we found that the adjusted expense limit caused confusion and was typically not calculated until too late in the election period to be of any real value to parties or candidates. We will be providing an overview of this change, as well as many others, at our March 4 meeting.
Updated Poll Keys and Urban Street Index
With the coming election, we have updated poll keys for each constituency as well as the urban street index. PDF versions of these documents can be downloaded from the Maps section of our website at https://www.elections.sk.ca/candidates-political-parties/maps/.
If you would prefer an electronic version of the documents that can be worked on (e.g., Excel), please contact Jennifer Colin at jennifer.colin@elections.sk.ca.
CEO Directives
My office has developed and finalized a number of CEO Directives that will assist you, as Chief Official Agent, your candidates, and their business managers in fulfilling your legislated responsibilities. These directives are:
For copies of each of these CEO Directives, visit https://www.elections.sk.ca/candidates-political-parties/bulletins-circulars/.
Updated Voters List
An updated voters list has been uploaded to the Elections Saskatchewan FTP site. This updated list incorporates the new polling divisions that have been put into place for the 2020 general election. It does not include voter data that Elections Canada collected during last fall’s federal election – we expect to receive and incorporate that data in March, at which time we will release another update to the list.
If you have questions, please contact Jennifer Colin at the email address listed above.
Reminder – March 4 Meeting
Finally, just a quick reminder about our March 4 meeting to discuss recent legislative changes as well as the next stages in our plans for advance voting services modernization. The meeting will run from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. with lunch being provided.
If you would RSVP to oceo.admin@elections.sk.ca for yourself and up to one other representative from your party, I would appreciate it. I look forward to seeing you then.
Sincerely,
Dr. Michael Boda
Chief Electoral Officer
Province of Saskatchewan