New vote counting equipment coming to Saskatchewan

Elections in Saskatchewan could be going digital.

Elections Saskatchewan issued its 2022-23 annual report on improving voting in the province. Included in the report is the idea to implement electronic poll books and vote-counting equipment.

“Our operational team right here at Elections Saskatchewan has been preparing for a new, 21st-century system for about six years now,” Michael Boda, Saskatchewan’s chief electoral officer, told Gormley this week.

The electronic equipment will be tested during Saskatchewan’s next byelection, where the new tools will be used alongside the usual paper ballot system in order to compare the differences between the two.

The electronic system would eliminate the need for poll books and save election workers a substantial amount of time when it comes to counting the ballots and determining the winner. After the change, election results will be available in a matter of minutes.

Boda said that after a 12-hour election shift, it can take up to another two hours for workers to finish counting all of the ballots, and electronic counting will change all of that.

“The results are made available within the first five minutes after the polls close,” said Boda.

The electronic system was ready to be tested in 2020. The pandemic put a halt to that plan, but gave Elections Saskatchewan the opportunity to implement modernized changes to its vote-by-mail system instead.

“In 2016 we had around 4,000 people who were using vote-by-mail. It was a very clunky system,” said Boda.

The modernized vote-by-mail system was much more successful, he said.

“We constructed a system which around 56,000 voters made use of,” he said.

Boda said he hopes the electronic voting system is just as popular as voting by mail. The equipment being tested during Saskatchewan’s next byelection will be leased from Ontario.

Ontario, British Columbia, Manitoba and Alberta have already been using digital voting systems. Some reported trouble with the system in Alberta, but Boda said that nothing is wrong with the new equipment.

“It was not the equipment that was slowing anything down in terms of results,” said Boda. “It was the procedures followed subsequently by election officials.”

Boda said that as long as the equipment is handled properly, things will be able to run more smoothly and efficiently than ever.

Saskatchewan has three upcoming byelections. The votes in Regina Coronation Park, Regina Walsh Acres and Lumsden-Morse will all be held by the end of the summer.

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is an amended version of this story, correcting the headline as electronic voting will not be tested in Saskatchewan.