Mail-in ballots to be counted after election day, Boda says

Mail-in ballots for Monday’s provincial election will not be counted until two days after election day, meaning a winner may not be declared for several days in tight races.

“In many jurisdictions, it takes a while to get to the results. In Saskatchewan, that hasn’t really been the case,” said Dr. Michael Boda, Saskatchewan’s chief electoral officer.

“Most people think elections are done on election night when in reality, they can go longer and in this case, it likely will for some candidates.”

Speaking with Gormley on Friday, Boda said more than 60,000 applications for mail-in ballots were approved.

Those received by Monday night at 8 p.m. will be counted starting Wednesday.

“We’re not sure how many vote-by-mail ballots there are going to be because just because applications and ballots went out, it doesn’t mean people are actually going to send them back in,” Boda said.

“As long as it takes, we’re going to count those ballots.”

Mail-in ballots received after Monday night will be counted starting on Nov. 7, with final results to follow.

“(It) might be November 8th (or it) could be November the 9th. It just depends,” Boda said.

Boda said many people have been taking advantage of advance voting, with volumes close to double the numbers from 2016.

“What we have been doing is encouraging people to not come at the times when they would normally think about coming, (such as) as soon as the poll opens or over the dinner hour,” he said. “What we’re asking people is to kind of spread it out.”