Chief electoral officer proposing changes for 2024 vote in Sask.

The next provincial election in Saskatchewan isn’t scheduled until 2024, but there could be some changes to the way people vote in that election.

Dr. Michael Boda, the province’s chief electoral officer, says he’s recommending to the Saskatchewan government a move away from a single election day.

“We know the term ‘advance voting,’ and that’s been in place for some time,” Boda told Gormley. “What I’m proposing is that we move to an election week, which will mean there’ll be plenty of opportunities for voters to participate in the process over the course of the entire week.

“In 2020, that was the first time ever that more than 50 per cent of people who voted participated either before that traditional election day or as part of the vote-by-mail opportunity. What we’re seeing is the main ways of voting are certainly on that last day of voting, but all week long in person and then using the vote by mail.”

Boda noted Elections Saskatchewan saw a large hike in the number of people who voted by mail in the 2020 election. Boda said COVID-19 may have affected the numbers, but the change was significant.

In previous elections in the province, around one in 100 people used a vote-by-mail ballot. In 2020, one in eight voters used that method.

After every election, the chief electoral officer makes recommendations on improving the process. Those recommendations go to the legislators, who can alter the Election Act accordingly if they see fit.

Boda stressed his recommendations this time will maintain or even improve the integrity of the voting process. That includes ensuring people aren’t trying to vote twice, especially if they use the vote-by-mail method.

“We don’t see evidence of it, but it ensures that integrity is there,” Boda said. “What’s happening here is it’s going to expand the accessibility to the ballot and that’s what a modern election system does.

“It doesn’t say, ‘Oh, on election day, you have to show up at this location only and that’s the only time that you can vote,’ which is the traditional way of doing it. What we’re doing is expanding it significantly.”

Boda also is recommending that poll books featuring the names of voters be replaced by electronic versions. He described them as essentially laptops with scanners connected to them.

“When you bring your voter information card in, we scan that card — or even if you don’t have your voter information card, we look you up very quickly to ensure that you’re on the list,” Boda said. “It ensures that you’re struck off and we can manage this in real time.

“It’s not connected in any way to the voting process, but it does allow us to ensure that we know who has voted.”

Elections Saskatchewan also is looking at introducing electronic tabulators to count votes. Those machines, which have been used in past elections in Regina and Saskatoon, scan a voter’s ballot and count it.

Another of Boda’s proposals is the notion of voting anywhere, a strategy that has been employed previously in B.C.

“If you lived in Saskatoon but you happen to be working in Prince Albert, you could go to a location in Prince Albert and vote for a candidate in your constituency in Saskatoon …,” he said.

“This can be particularly helpful in places like universities, for example, where students are away from their constituencies but they would like to be able to vote. So they could vote at a ‘vote-anywhere’ location at a university. Airports are another (possibility).

“There are many locations, but I expect that we’ll be able to have at least one in every constituency and that’s what we have to work through to 2024.”

The whole idea of the recommendations is to move Saskatchewan’s elections into a new era.

“2024 could be a really pivotal year for our election system (and) our democracy,” Boda said, “because we would be introducing a new approach that would guard the traditions of our past yet allow us to pivot to the 21st century and introduce a really modernized election system.”