Advance polls, uploading issues blamed for delay in Saskatoon election results

Residents in Saskatoon did not see municipal election results posted online until 10 p.m. on Wednesday night – two hours after the polls closed.

Returning officer Shellie Bryant said closing the advance polls took longer than anticipated.

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“The 10 machines that we had, plus the post-secondary, were taking extremely longer than what I had anticipated because of the amount of votes and data on that USB stick,” Bryant explained. “We had to close the tabulator off, and then we also have to upload that information into our election system, which also takes a long time.”

Bryant noted that a Saskatoon bylaw states that vote counting cannot begin until after the last polling station closes. That includes ballots from advance polls, post-secondary polls, and mail-in ballots.

“We are already making notes to look at possible bylaw changes in the future, where we could count these special polls a day before or during the day,” said Bryant.

“Had we been able to do this today, during the day, while everything else was happening, we would have been done.”

Saskatoon’s ballots were counted using an automated system, and the returning officer said the vote-tabulating units needed to be restarted.

“It’s just the nature of technology,” said Bryant. “We have to close the tabulator off, and then we also have to upload that information into our election system (manually), which also takes a long time.”

Bryant is counting her first civic election as returning officer as a success.

“I’m certainly tired, but in good spirits still, overall, in the grand scheme of things,” she said. “There’s always going to be a few hiccups in any election, and it’s just taking longer, but we’ll get through it.”