Below is additional information on the Return to the Writ as well as some clarification on information that your candidates will be receiving from their constituency Returning Officers in the next few days.
Return to the Writ Completed
On Wednesday afternoon, I met with Mr. Greg Putz, the Clerk of the Legislative Assembly, to “return” 61 successful candidates to the Legislative Assembly. I received electronic confirmation on Wednesday from all of our Returning Officers across the province that they had completed the return to the writ process and shipped it to our head office – after receiving this confirmation, I completed a letter and provided the information to the Clerk. I have attached a copy of the letter that I provided to Mr. Putz. He will now use this information to arrange the swearing in and formal appointment of the province’s new MLAs.
Clarification on Materials sent to Candidates
The Election Act, 1996 requires that our returning officers provide your candidates with certain information following the election. This includes a copy of the E-148S “Statement of Returning Officer Respecting Votes Cast and Ballot Papers Used at the Polling Place (Summary Sheet),” which, by legislation, is the form referred to as the “return to the writ.” This form is used by returning officers to reconcile the number of ballots issued and returned from the various polls in their constituency. Your candidates are also provided with a copy of the E-119 which is the “Certificate of the Returning Officer (Number of Voters on Official Voters’ List).”
On the E-148S, the first column of numbers is entitled “Total Number of Names on Voters’ List.” This is not an accurate description of what that number represents – the numbers depicted in this column represent the total number of ballots issued – NOT the total number of voters on the voters list used in the election. The correct total number of voters on the voters list can be found on form E-119, which was sent to your candidates alongside the E-148S.
I would very much appreciate it if you could pass this information along to your candidates and their business managers.
Annual Meeting of Registered Political Parties
I hope that all of you are taking some well-deserved time off in the next few weeks. While our roles are very different during the election, I know that your workload and the stresses you are under is not that different from what we experience as an election management body. With that in mind, I wanted to let you know that I have begun thinking about our annual meeting of the province’s registered political parties and will offer more information, including confirmation on a date and location, in the near future.