While residents will likely know who their new mayor and council are on election night on Nov. 9, city hall won’t release the official results until Friday, Nov. 13.
Officials plan to wait until Nov. 10 to ensure everything is sorted out and all equipment has been returned, explained returning officer Tracy Wittke. Nov. 11 is Remembrance Day, so on Nov. 12, officials will ensure all the poll books have been turned in and are balanced against the voters who voted at the polling stations.
“I have always done that just to ensure that nothing is missing and that the actual results are the true results,” she said on Nov. 2 during a press briefing to discuss how the municipality will handle election night. “And as well, the larger centres, I do know that Saskatoon is declaring their results at 11 a.m. on Friday as well.”
Should a candidate request a recount, that timeline for ensuring the results are official would take somewhat longer, Wittke continued. Under the Municipal Election Act, candidates have a week to ask for a recount if the results are close. Wittke would then re-check the election workers’ work and balance their poll books to ensure they performed their jobs correctly.
Results posted online
In past municipal elections, city hall would be open so residents could come to see the results. However, due to the pandemic, city administration has decided to close the building to everyone that evening but the media. Instead, residents can check the City of Moose Jaw’s website for results that will be updated regularly.
Wittke has acted as the returning officer for the municipality in several elections and said she has never had to issue a news release saying a race was too close to call. She pointed out that the unofficial results have always been available election night.
Polls open late
There are four polling stations for the municipal election: one at Church of Our Lady Roman Catholic Church on South Hill and three stations at the exhibition centre. Polls open at 9 a.m. and close at 8 p.m.
Wittke explained that any voters in the buildings after 8 p.m. will still be allowed to cast their ballots. Once all non-election personnel have left, it will take election workers about 10 minutes to run off reports from the tabulating equipment. The results will be known 15 minutes after that since the poll clerks have to balance their poll books and equal the machines’ numbers.
Mail-in ballots
In the 2016 municipal election, city hall received 22 mail-in ballots. As of Nov. 2, the municipality had received 328 mail-in ballot requests for this year’s election. Such ballots need to be filled out and returned to city hall no later than 8 p.m. on election day. If they arrive by mail after Nov. 9, they will not be counted.
All mail-in ballots will be placed in a sealed box until that evening and then opened close to 8 p.m. The ballots will be run through the tabulating machine under the watch of two scrutineers.
“Given the circumstances of COVID, I am pleased to see that number of (mail-in) ballots. I was actually very encouraged … ,” added Wittke. “I hope to continue to educate the public that this is an option that’s always available with the mail-in ballot.”
