Observation Opportunities, Strike Off & Registration Info Reminders
Opportunities to Observe
Making the electoral process accessible to political stakeholders is a critical element of election integrity. By making the process transparent to party and candidate representatives, we can help to ensure trust in the security and integrity of our event.
Legislation makes clear allowances for candidate representatives to observe in-person voting and vote counting, making it clear what can and cannot be done. I want to ensure that, for other voting opportunities, we make similar arrangements so that you and other party representatives can observe and understand key processes.
I would like you to begin thinking about what elements of “non-traditional” voting that you would like to observe. Initially, you might focus on our Vote by Mail opportunity, which will be administered centrally by our head office team. Vote by mail ballots will be counted in two rounds, first at the Second Preliminary Count, two days after the last day of voting and then at the Final Count, twelve days after the last day of voting. Consistent with our 2020 election, party representatives will be invited to observe these ballot counts. But there are other elements of our vote by mail processes that you may wish to observe and understand.
You may want to see the central sorting of hospital and remand ballots. As a reminder, voters in hospitals and remand centres, who could reside in any constituency in the province, vote using a “Form B” or “write in ballot.” All of these ballot boxes are then shipped to our head office where we sort them into the appropriate constituencies. And this election, for the first time, we will then keep these ballots at our head office and count them centrally at the Final Count (during previous elections these ballots were shipped back to returning offices and counted in the field).
These are examples of processes that you may wish to have representatives attend and observe. There may be others which I have not mentioned. If you could let me know what you would like to observe and when, I will work with my team to make the necessary arrangements.
Strike Off Data & Access to Portal
This will be the first general election in which we will be using our online portal to share strike off information with registered political parties and candidates. If you are interested in testing your access or our process of sharing data, please send an email to Jennifer Colin at jennifer.colin@elections.sk.ca and she will be able to assist.
Our plan is to conduct a simulation of the strike off process in August. We will offer more details on the test in the days ahead..
Change to Polling Divisions
We have made one change to polling divisions that I want to ensure you and your eventual candidates are aware of. In the constituency of Saskatchewan Rivers, we have split polling division 11 into polling divisions 11A (residents of Little Red River) and 11B (residents of Montreal Lake).
If you have questions about this or if you would like a new list of polling divisions, please contact Jennifer Colin at the email address shown above.
Registration Information Reminder
Please be reminded that registered political parties must advise Elections Saskatchewan of any changes to information contained in the Register of Political Parties, including names and addresses of officers of the political party. Should you need to update us of any recent changes, please complete form E-513 (attached and also available online at the following URL: https://cdn.elections.sk.ca/upload/E-513-Alteration-in-the-Register-Information-of-a-RPP-2023.pdf).
Once completed, the form can be submitted to Aaron Thompson, Director of Finance, at aaron.thompson@elections.sk.ca.
Dr. Michael Boda
Chief Electoral Officer
Province of Saskatchewan