Saskatoon sees thousands of requests for mail-in ballots for November’s civic election

The Saskatoon civic election is just over a month away, but that hasn’t stopped thousands of people from already filling out forms requesting a mail-in ballot package.

Returning Officer Scott Bastian says more than 3,300 people or about 1.5 per cent of eligible voters have filled out their paperwork. There are about 216,000 people who can cast their ballot in this year’s election.

By comparison, during the last civic election in 2016, there were only 200 requests for mail-in votes.

Bastian however, says some of those applications being sent in are incomplete and they can’t be processed.

“The main thing is providing the identification, or completing the voter and witness declaration form. So, there’s three parts that are required- completing that voter registration form and mail-in ballot application as one application, the voter and witness declaration form, and providing the ID.”

That said, he’s still expecting that there will be about six thousand ballots mailed out. There’s no concern over voter package shortages.

There are some things to keep in mind as well. Ballots must be received by 8 p.m. on election night.

“It can be done in the mail, delivered in person, it can be couriered. As long as it’s back in the election office by 8 o’clock p.m. The envelope is self-addressed, postage paid. So, all the voter has to do is fill out the ballot, seal that thing up, stick it in the mail, provided there’s enough time for it to be received.”

Bastian doesn’t expect there to be any potential delays in counting, either. Unlike provincial election ballots which can’t be counted until after election day, civic ballots can be counted earlier.

“We’ve designed the election process through the bylaw so that we can begin processing the mail-in ballots after the close of advance polls, so that’s Nov. 5.”

That way, beginning Nov. 6, the votes can go in the tabulators and there won’t be a delay on election night.

More information on mail-in ballots and what you need to request a package can be found here.