The number of applications for mail-in votes for people wanting to be more cautious around COVID-19 has risen exponentially from past provincial elections, and that may mean some constituencies will not have a definitive winner on Monday night, if it’s a close call. Chief Electoral Officer, Michael Boda, explains that the deadline for mailing in your ballots is 8pm on Monday when the polls close and they will be accepted until November 5th.

The first count begins on Monday night, and then 2 days later, the mail-in ballots received by election day will be tabulated. It may take more than a day, depending on the number of votes and then the final count, the official count, is always 12 days after an election, and in this instance it’s November 7th.

The number of approved vote by mail applications for this election is 61,412. That compares to 4,420 in 2016.

Boda says 41,527 people voted in the advance polls on Tuesday and 43,409 on Wednesday for a total of 84,936. In the 2016 election, in total over 5 days of advance polls, there were 110,716.

He adds that some jurisdictions have tabulators to make the counting process move more quickly, but although Elections Saskatchewan is working in that direction, all of the votes are counted by hand.