A voting station in Prince Albert (paNOW Staff)

By Glenn Hicks

Election

Election Day Sask. votes 2020

Oct 26, 2020 | 9:43 AM

Saskatchewan heads to the polls today for the 2020 general election amid COVID-19 pandemic precautions and unprecedented interest in mail-in as well as advance voting.

Polls opened at 9 a.m. and close at 8 p.m.

Full details on where to vote from Elections Sask. can be viewed here. Information regarding where to vote is also indicated on voter registration cards sent to voters in the mail.

After 8 p.m. ballots from advance voting, election day and personal care facilities will be counted. Starting Oct. 28, vote by mail ballots will begin counting. The Final Count on Nov. 7 will include all vote by mail ballots plus ballots cast at returning offices, hospital, remand and temporarily displaced voter ballots, and extraordinary voting ballots.

Breakdown of how ballots will be counted

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Breakdown by constituency of total advance voting turnout, vote by mail packages, and total registered voters

To vote you must:

• Be a Canadian citizen
• Be at least 18 years old
• Have lived in Saskatchewan for at least 6 months before the day the election is called
• Ordinarily be a resident of Saskatchewan

Over 185,000 people voted in the five days of advance voting across the province last week according to Elections Saskatchewan. That’s in addition to over 61,000 vote by mail applications approved earlier, something election officials called “an extraordinary increase” from around 4,200 vote by mail ballots (also called absentee ballots) that were returned and counted in the 2016 General Election. There are 817,000 registered voters in Saskatchewan.

A polling station in North Battleford (battlefordsNOW Staff)

In the Prince Albert-Carlton riding for example, 4,243 people of the near 14,000 registered voters have already cast their ballots by mail-in or in advance. In Prince Albert-Northcote 2,665 of just over 14,600 registered voters have already made their mark. In The Battlefords, just under 4,000 people have already cast their ballot, of the just over 14,000 registered voters. And in Melfort, over 3,300 of the over 12,400 registered voters have made their decision.

A voting place in Melfort (northeastNOW Staff)

It remains to be seen how popular today’s official election day will be given the big spike in those who decided to vote in advance, either in person or by mail.

We will have regular election updates on you local radio dial at CKBI (Prince Albert and area and La Ronge), CJNB/CJNS (The Battlefords and Meadow Lake), and Beach Radio (Melfort and area), from 7:30 p.m. as well as full details and reaction later here on our NOW family of web portals.

—

glenn.hicks@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @princealbertnow