Saskatchewan’s Chief Electoral Officer says voter turnout is significantly up this year for the first ever Voting Week. Dr. Michael Boda says he is comfortable with how the week has gone so far. “Voters are leaning into this. We don’t know what the voter turnout will be eventually but we are seeing is that turnout on the first two days are significantly up from where they have been in the past.” He adds that with the election having a Voting Week, the term election day for Monday isn’t really correct. It’s the final day of voting.

There have been reports out of Moose Jaw of issues with voter cards with the wrong address and some computer issues where people go to polling stations and are told they already voted. Boda says he is aware of both situations and notes that Elections Saskatchewan sent out over 800,000 voter information cards. Sometimes there are errors, but Boda says it is a low margin, and having a card doesn’t mean you can vote. You still need your identification. For the issue where people were told they had already voted, Boda says they are looking into it, and adds that it was a very small number of people, and in the end, they were still able to vote.

Voting Week continues through Saturday and then the final day is Monday. When it comes to the results of the election, Dr. Boda explains that Monday night is the first preliminary count which includes all of the ballots from the six days of Voting Week, along with votes from homebound residents and those in personal care facilities. The second preliminary count is two days later on Wednesday, for all of the vote by mail ballots received by October 26th and then 12 days after the final day of voting, November 9th, is the final count which includes the vote by mail ballots received from October 27th through November 7th, along with ballots from hospitals, remand facilities and temporarily displaced voters. Boda stresses that the results aren’t final until that third and final count.