Sask. chief electoral officer suggests shifting 2024 election dates to avoid last year's challenges

Saskatchewan's chief electoral officer found the short time between last year's municipal and provincial elections created problems for voters.

In a report published Wednesday, chief electoral officer Michael Boda suggested there is enough time to combat the issue before the next scheduled provincial and municipal elections, slated for Oct. 28, 2024, and Nov. 13, 2024, respectively.

In a news release published by Elections Saskatchewan, Boda said he had brought the issue to legislators in hopes that a solution will be found.

His report said a provision within the Legislative Assembly Act already allows for provincial elections to be moved if they overlap with federal elections.

The report said that when the provision was introduced, then-Justice Minister Don Morgan said an overlap in federal and provincial elections could "create unacceptable confusion in the electorate that could undermine the democratic process for each of the federal and provincial campaigns."

On Thursday morning, Boda told CBC Radio's Morning Editionthat data he gathered showed voters felt that same confusion when it came to voting last fall.

After the two fall votes, Elections Saskatchewan and the Canadian Hub fo Applied Social Research partnered to conduct a random-sample telephone survey of voters and non-voters in the province.

The sample included 2,120 voters and 280 non-voters, producing a margin of error of plus or minus two per cent, 19 times out of 20.

"More than half [of those surveyed] do believe that those elections should not be so close to one another and more than half said at least a season apart," Boda said.

"Twenty-one per cent were confused about whether a candidate was actually running provincially or municipally."

His report found that the nearly simultaneous campaigns meant some election issues "drifted" between the two, resulting in roughly 20 per cent of those surveyed unsure of what issues applied to provincial or federal jurisdiction.

He also said 14 per cent of those surveyed didn't know where to cast their ballots for either election.

Another topic that could throw even more confusion into the mix in 2024 is the United States federal election, slated to be held on Nov. 5 of that year, right between the provincial and municipal elections in Saskatchewan.

"Media will likely again be saturated with election news and political advertising of a different sort," the report said.

"A scan of the front page of the Regina Leader-Post from the days after the 2020 provincial election shows little coverage of the pending city vote, with coverage instead focusing on the U.S. presidential election and the incoming provincial government."

Given the number of elections and their proximity to one another, Boda cited overall election fatigue as a potential issue in2024.

Last year's elections were also madechallenging by seasonal weather.

Boda's report noted municipal elections last year coincided with the arrival of record-setting snowfall in parts of the province, which delayed voting efforts in Saskatoon and Swift Current.

Spring suggestion

What Boda proposed to combat the above concernswas shifting the municipal vote, and the vote for reeves and odd numbered divisions of rural municipalities, to May 8, 2024.

He described the move as a "relatively straightforward change" in both the legislative and administrative sense, though he acknowledged a spring vote could present challenges for those in rural municipalities due to seeding.

Alternatively, Boda suggested that rural municipality votes could be cast in October as slated witht he rest going to the new schedule, as those rural votes are often much smaller than their municipal counterparts, and any overlap between provincial and rural municipal elections could be managed.

A statement from the Ministry of Government Relations said officials would be reviewing the chief electoral officer's report in the coming days and weeks.

His suggestions would be considered, the statement said, as local election legislation was reviewed. If changes were to be proposed, the ministry would then engage with municipalities before those changes would be finalized.