No surprises in Saskatchewan’s final election count

Elections Saskatchewan’s final vote count of all mail-in ballots in the 2024 election delivered no surprises on Saturday.

The final count includes mail-in ballots received between Oct. 26 and Nov. 7 along with ballots collected from hospitals and remand centres.

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Dr. Michael Boda, Chief Electoral Officer of Saskatchewan, said in a news release that a total of 471,087 ballots were cast during the election.

This represents 56.8 per cent of the 829,884 estimated eligible voters, the province’s highest turnout since 2007, when 60.8 per cent of eligible voters voted, and higher than the 52 per cent who voted in 2020.

For a list of all the election results from the first preliminary count click here.

The results show the Saskatchewan Party won 34 of the 61 ridings to form a majority government, while the NDP won 27 ridings to form the Official Opposition, and no third parties won a seat.

All 61 returning offices also verified on Saturday that their results were entered correctly on election night.

The tight Saskatoon-Westview riding, which changed hands from Saskatchewan Party’s two-term MLA David Buckingham to the Saskatchewan NDP’s April ChiefCalf in the second preliminary count, remained ChiefCalf’s with 3,576 votes in the final count, with 3,502 the final total for Sask. Party.

Sask. Party’s Ken Cheveldayoff was declared the winner of Saskatoon-Willowgrove riding, despite a nail-biting 178 vote differential with 217 ballots left for counting on Saturday. Cheveldayoff’s lead increased to 4,895 votes compared with Wakula’s 4,759 in the final count.

Candidates and financial agents can request a recount until Nov, 20, Boda said, after which all 61 returning offices complete a Return to the Writ and send it to him.

Boda then informs the Clerk of the Legislative Assembly of the winning candidates, who can then be sworn in as Members of the Legislative Assembly.

— with files from Canadian Press

Read more:

• ‘Don’t light the fireplace’ and other survival tips for new Sask. MLAs
• WATCH: Nearly one million ballots printed ahead of Sask. election
• Sask Votes 2024: Our comprehenshive election coverage of the election