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The provincial election is drawing closer with Saskatchewan residents voting for their MLAs this fall.
Getting all of the 800,000 registered voters to prepare for the election is a tough task, which Elections Saskatchewan is working on during the leadup.
Spokesperson Tim Kydd talks about some of the work they're doing over the next couple of months.
"It's been a busy summer for us and a busy past few years actually at Election Saskatchewan here, getting ready for the election, which is scheduled for October 28th. That's the date it's scheduled for and the date we're planning for. So we've been busy here preparing materials for voters. There's a voter information card that will come out once the election is officially underway at the call of the premier, we'll also have been working on some voter information letters that were mailed out just before the long weekend."
Estevan voters will see those letters in their mailboxes this week, with more information on how to vote.
This year people will have plenty of opportunities with Kydd saying they're moving towards more voting days.
"This year we'll have voting week and that's made-up of early voting and the last day of voting and it's all about making voting as convenient as possible. We're continuing to transition away from that traditional one-day of voting to a week of voting. We can't say the dates for sure there until we know the election is officially called and we know the dates. But we're planning on five days of early voting there at the end of October."
When those locations do come around, they'll have extended hours, running from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., with the final day of voting lasting from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Kydd says they're also looking to encourage mail-in voting.
"We thought it was so popular in the 2020 general election - granted that was in the pandemic time - but voting by mail, we're encouraging voters, particularly those in rural areas, to consider the vote by mail option. We held that and offered that in the 2020 election and we had more than 56,000 voters who took advantage of voting in mail rather than voting in."
People are free to register for a mail-in voting kit from Elections Saskatchewan before the provincial election.
"We've spent a lot of time and effort since the 2016 general election registering voters, and we have a very high number of voters registered in Saskatchewan, around 98 per cent of our eligible voters are already registered. So there really isn't anything to do unless you've had a change of your address or your last name, then we encourage people to come to the Election Saskatchewan website and update their voter information with either their new address or their new name."
Some jurisdictions have changed for this provincial election, with the Saskatchewan Constituency Boundaries Commission redrawing boundaries.
Anyone voting in a new riding that hasn't changed addresses won't need to do anything, says Kydd.
"If you're already a registered voter, we have you, and as long as your address is up to date that's where your voter information card will be sent to."