Saskatchewan residents will soon be voting for their representatives in the Legislative Assembly this fall, with a tentative provincial election date set for October 28th.
In the meantime, Elections Saskatchewan is working on ensuring all 800,000 registered voters are prepared.
"It's been a busy summer for us and a busy past few years, actually, at Election Saskatchewan, getting ready for the election," shared Elections Saskatchewan Spokesperson Tim Kyde. "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 also have been working on some voter information letters that were mailed out just before the long weekend."
Voters will see those letters in their mailboxes this week, with more information on how to vote.
Kyde said this year, they are moving toward having more voting days, moving from the traditional one day of voting to a full week of voting.
"We'll have a voting week, made up of early voting, and the last day of voting," he explained. "It's all about making voting as convenient as possible."
While the dates can't be confirmed until the election is officially called, Kyde said they are planning on five days of early voting 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.
Kyde noted they are also looking to encourage mail-in voting, which was popular in the 2020 general election when 56,000 voters took advantage of the option.
"Granted, that was in the pandemic time," he stated. "But we're encouraging voters, particularly those in rural areas, to consider the vote-by-mail option."
Eligible voters 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 percent 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."
With the Saskatchewan Constituency Boundaries Commission redrawing boundaries, some jurisdictions have changed for this provincial election. However, anyone voting in a new riding, but hasn't changed addresses, won't need to do anything.
"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."