Earlier today, the returning officer for the constituency of Saskatoon Meewasin returned the writ of election to me, as Chief Electoral Officer, bringing the writ period for the by-election to an official close. See below for several items related to the end of the writ period.
Return of the Writ – Saturday, March 25
Earlier today, Lloyd Howey, the returning officer for Saskatoon Meewasin, provided me with electronic copies of the materials that make up the return to the writ and mailed the package back to me using registered mail (as is required by legislation). This marks the end of the writ period for the by-election. On Monday, I will write to the Clerk of the Legislative Assembly and inform him of the return to the writ and publish the name of the winning candidate in the Saskatchewan Gazette.
I would again like to thank all of our parties that field candidates for this by-election and offer congratulations to Ryan Meili and the N.D.P. on winning the vacant seat. In the coming days, I will be writing to all the individuals who ran in the by-election to express my thanks for their participation in the democratic process. I will ask that, if they have feedback on how the by-election was administered, they pass it along to you in your role as Chief Official Agent. In turn, I would appreciate if you would provide that information to my office.
Saskatoon Meewasin By-Election Debrief
For an election management body, by-elections are an excellent learning opportunity. We used the Saskatoon Meewasin event as an opportunity to test several innovations and new ideas that I have told you about, both through communiques and in person during the advance voting period.
It is also an excellent opportunity for Elections Saskatchewan to sit down with you, our stakeholders in the province’s registered political parties, and learn more about what worked, what did not, and what can be improved upon.
Given our proximity to our annual meeting typically held in early June, I am proposing that we combine our by-election debrief meeting with the annual one. I will be in touch with a date for that meeting soon. I look forward to seeing all of you there.
Saskatoon Meewasin Results
With the return to the writ, my office can begin shipping election supplies from the returning office back to our warehouse in Regina. This includes registration forms from anyone who registered or updated their information at the time of voting. Once we have those forms entered, we will be able to produce the most complete set of results related to the by-election, including the final number of registered voters.
As has been the tradition for by-elections in Saskatchewan for some time, the final results will not become public until they are published in a by-election report, which will be inclusive of both the election results and financial information related to reimbursements and the cost of the by-election. This will be at least six months from now.
Thank you again for your cooperation throughout this event.
Dr. Michael Boda
Chief Electoral Officer
Province of Saskatchewan
For additional information on the Saskatoon Meewasin by-election, including a link to all CEO Communiques, visit https://www.elections.sk.ca/voters/meewasin-by-election/.