Regina plows ahead with municipal election

City of Regina officials — and residents of the city, apparently — weren’t going to let a snowstorm get in the way of the 2020 election.

“We did get snow last evening and this morning, but hats off to our road crews who have been out there working very hard,” city clerk Jim Nicol said during a media conference Monday at City Hall. “The streets are more than passable. (Crews) have made sure that the schools and the civic centres and the churches where polling is underway have been cleared.

“There’s a great response out there. People are happy. I’ve been to 10 polling stations already this morning. They’re all fairly busy and people are basically positive. People are trudging through the snow. They’re saying, ‘This is Saskatchewan. Get used to it.’ ”

Regina got off relatively lucky during the weekend snowstorm. City officials said the Queen City received between 12 and 14 centimetres of snow, which was much less than the amount that fell in centres like Swift Current and Saskatoon.

The provincial government signed an order Monday that gave municipalities the option of postponing their elections or continuing on. While Swift Current was one locale that opted to put off its election, places like Moose Jaw, Saskatoon and Regina went ahead.

“We would have considered (postponing) if we had perhaps been hit by the storm as it was in Swift Current,” Nicol said. “I understand that theirs has been postponed until Nov. 12. They got walloped. Saskatoon got equally hard hit, although it’s my understanding that all but two of their polling stations are open as of right now.

“We would have had contingencies in place, but that is an absolutely worst-case scenario. We were monitoring the weather all weekend. We were in touch with road crews and they were out immediately starting (Sunday) night. We’re in great shape.”

On Sunday, the city’s snow removal crews focused on clearing the roads leading to polling stations as well as the streets in front of the stations. Nicol’s tour of polling stations Monday morning showed the crews’ efforts had been successful.

“Every station I left, there were certainly people there, still walking in,” he said. “Nobody’s complaining. Everybody’s bundled up for the weather.

“The roads have been cleared very well by our road crews. The sidewalks are open. There are people with snowblowers out. People are coming out (and) we’re not stopping.”

Nicol said arrangements will be made for those with mobility issues who may not be able to get to polling stations due to the weather. He suggested a call to 306-751-4479 to address those situations.

“We will make every effort to get one of our election workers to take out a ballot to those people who are stranded in their homes,” Nicol said. “We hope that isn’t too many.

“We hope people took advantage of that opportunity prior to the election (to vote via) the mail-in ballots — which were very popular — as well as our 14,000-plus who came out on advance poll days.”

The total number of ballots cast at the city’s advance polls was twice the number cast at polls prior to the 2016 civic election. Nicol said 3,300 mail-in ballots had been received as of Friday and more were arriving Monday.

Polls are to close on schedule Monday at 8 p.m., but anyone who’s at a polling station by that time will get to vote.

“As long as you’re in line, outside or inside the polling station, we will take your ballot and it’ll be counted,” said Nicol, who noted results should be announced on time at about 8:15 p.m.

The results can be seen live here.

— With files from 980 CJME’s Joseph Ho