That includes the four local polling stations -- the Heritage Inn and Minto United Church for Moose Jaw North, Timothy Eaton Gardens and Church of our Lady for Moose Jaw Wakawmow -- each of which saw a steady flow of voters from the 12 p.m. to 8 p.m. time slot they were open.
All told, a total of 41,527 ballots were cast across the province on Tuesday, nearly double the 24,615 cast on the first day in the 2016 provincial election and triple that of the totals seen in 2011.
That’s not much of a surprise to Tim Kydd with Elections Saskatchewan.
“It was a very busy day,” said Kydd, the Senior Director of Outreach, Policy and Communications. “We were prepared for it. Even though there were a lot of vote by mail applications, the trend across Canada the last few decades has been increased turnout during advanced, rather than election day, so we’ve certainly adjusted our planning for that.”
That means making sure everything was ready and as spot on as could be as soon as things opened on day one of advance polling. While the wait was a little long at some polling stations right off the hop, once things found a rhythm, it was smooth sailing.
“We had all of our polls around the province opened on time, we had all our workers ready around the province and we had a large number of voters show up, with lots of positive comments from people who were able to get in and out quickly,” Kydd said. “Any issues we had were minor ones from training that we were able to correct for the remainder of the voting period.”
To say pulling that off is a daunting task is an understatement. Kydd pointed out that around 15,000 people work the polls during the election, which basically constitutes a single 12-hour shift -- eight hours during advance polling -- once every four years. A two-hour training session helps with preparation, and then they’re off and running.
“It’s a very unique work environment,” Kydd said. “We put a lot of focus on training this election because of COVID, we went with a lot of video training with our senior staff rather than in person, just because of pandemic protocols, and we’re very pleased with how that went.”
Advance polls will be open eight hours at each of the aforementioned locations from Oct. 20 through Oct. 24, followed by election day on Monday, Oct. 26.
Kydd encourages everyone to vote when it’s most convenient for them.
“There are 40 hours of advance voting this week and another 11 hours on Monday, so that’s a total of 51 hours you have to vote in person, plus our vote by mail applications have been open from middle of August until last week,” he said. “So everyone has the opportunity to vote when they can.”
