We are less than 24 hours to the start of election day voting. For Elections Saskatchewan, and for you as Registered Political Parties, this is the result of more than four years of planning. Below are a few messages in advance of election day.
Polling Location Changes – Version 2.0
Attached is Version 2.0 of the polling location changes document. This includes all changes made since the last version of the document I provided to you on March 26. We have clearly marked the line between the “new” changes and the “old” ones. I trust this may be beneficial to your planning for tomorrow.
From this point on, all changes will be catalogued on our website at: https://www.elections.sk.ca/locationchanges/. As I have explained, our Field Leadership Team has been very active, and will continue to be active, in ensuring affected voters are aware of these changes.
Advance Voting Turnout
Five days of advance voting have ended and we have had a historic turnout. The table below shows the total numbers in comparison to 2011 and include percent increase by day, and then in total for all five days.
| Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Total | |
| 2011 GE | 16,096 | 13,670 | 11,473 | 10,974 | 14,416 | 66,602 |
| 2016 GE | 24,615 | 21,477 | 20,180 | 21,311 | 23,311 | 110,716 |
| % Increase | 53% | 57% | 76% | 94% | 62% | 66% |
Counting of Advance Votes – Additional Poll Clerks
Given the turnout at advance voting, I have had concerns about how long it will take the traditional two person team of deputy returning officer and poll clerk to count those ballots. As you know, the counting of advance ballots cannot begin until after polls close at 8 p.m. In some cases, an advance team may have many more ballots to count than was expected – this could mean that counting will take longer than is desirable.
With this in mind, I have authorized certain Returning Officers to engage an additional poll clerk to assist with the count. Section 13(2) of The Election Act, 1996 provides me with the authority to give approval for this to happen. I have instructed all Returning Officers who have advance polls where there are more than 1,000 total votes to be counted to hire an additional poll clerk. The additional poll clerk, to be dispatched from Returning Offices, will be able to assist with the sorting and arrangement of the ballots to allow the deputy returning officer to efficiently count. Please let your candidate representatives know that this may happen in some locations and the additional poll clerk has been approved by my office.
Election Night Results Page Available
If you would like a preview of what our election night results page will look like, you can go to http://results.elections.sk.ca/.
Heading into tomorrow, I wish all of you the very best of luck. Every political party, candidate, and volunteer has worked incredibly hard to get to this point and I wish to express my sincere thanks to each and every one of you. Thank you again.