October 17, 2022 – Offering advice on designing an election system that will meet the needs of the province for decades to come, Saskatchewan’s Chief Electoral Officer today released Chief Electoral Officer’s Recommendations for Legislative Reform, Volume IV of A Report on the Twenty-Nine General Election.
The volume provides recommendations on how legislation can be changed to serve voters, registered political parties and other key stakeholders more effectively during the next general election in October 2024. A post-election survey of voters conducted by Elections Saskatchewan in 2020 found that more than three quarters of respondents agreed with the statement, “Although our voting process has served us well for over 100 years, we should embrace changes that improve things.”
“Residents of the province increasingly want to vote when and where it suits them and not during certain hours or at certain locations,” says Dr. Michael Boda, Chief Electoral Officer of Saskatchewan. “I have carefully assessed other jurisdictions across the country and around the world as they have introduced modernized voting procedures and have observed the benefits firsthand. We can offer a better experience for voters, for our election workers, and for our political stakeholders that increases the integrity of our election system while offering improved accessibility.”
The volume proposes that changes be made to The Election Act, 1996 that would provide the Chief Electoral Officer with the authority to modernize voting procedures through published CEO Directives. While the final set of modernized elements is still to be determined, it will likely include the use of electronic poll books and ballot tabulators, real-time data sharing with political stakeholders, and limited introduction of Vote Anywhere locations. A Vote Anywhere location can serve any voter from any constituency in the province – something which has not been offered before in Saskatchewan and which is still being explored in most jurisdictions across the country
Other topics raised by the Chief Electoral Officer for consideration by legislators are administrative changes to the province’s political finance system, modifications to allow for increased collaboration with municipalities, and allowance for addressing disinformation related to electoral processes.
The report can be found at: www.elections.sk.ca/reports-data/reports-publications/.
This is the fourth and final volume documenting the 2020 Saskatchewan General Election.
Elections Saskatchewan (ESK) is the province’s nonpartisan election management body and an independent office of the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan. ESK directs and supervises the administration of provincial electoral events including Saskatchewan’s next general election, scheduled, by legislation, for October 28, 2024. Information for voters, workers, media, candidates, and parties at www.elections.sk.ca.
For more information contact:
Tim Kydd
Senior Director, Outreach & Communications
Elections Saskatchewan
306.537.9211
tim.kydd@elections.sk.ca