Worried about voting in person? City favours mail option to online
‘The day’s just not here yet,’ official says, for electronic-based municipal election
Amid the COVID -19 pandemic, the City of Regina wants voters opting for more paper and less pixels as its municipal election approaches.
It’s adjusting services voters can access out of its Elections Regina office leading up to the Nov. 9 vote day, urging people worried about the spread of the novel coronavirus to use mail-in ballots.
The city is excluding the chance of electronic- or internet-based voting as an option for voters keen on avoiding large crowds, chief returning officer Jim Nicol said Tuesday at City Hall.
Regina residents will elect a mayor, 10 city councillors, and seven school board trustees in each of the public and Catholic school divisions.
The City isn’t yet committing to changes on election day to promote social distancing protocols.
Once that day hits, Nicol said, “We will be taking our direction from the Sask. Health Authority in terms of where things stand.”
“The day’s just not here yet,” for electronic-based voting, he said. “I’m not sure that even in a worstcase scenario, that we would be able to get it in place.”
He said polling stations normally have “considerable room,” but “we would ensure tables would be six feet apart, for example,” on Nov. 9.
Peak voting times on election day may require his office to figure out procedures for monitoring big lineups.
“So would that mean we would have more elections people working outside, monitoring people (who are) waiting? Perhaps we’d have to hire more commissionaires. These are all things we’re thinking.”
Nicol said his office is encouraging mail-in ballots as a “long-standing option for people who would otherwise not be here during the advance poll date or the election date.”
Voters interested in using that option have to put in an application with the Elections Regina office.
They would pick up their ballots from the office and mail them in, “or you can hand that back to us in a sealed envelope. Those are typically the ones we count first on election night ... they definitely have to be in by 8 p.m. on the close of polls.”
The city estimates there will be 187,532 residents eligible to vote on election day.
In the 2016 election, 36,656 ballots were cast from an estimated pool of 175,799 eligible voters. That’s a 20.9 per cent voter turnout rate.
The Elections Regina office opens on June 1 at 100-637 Solomon Cr.
Nicol urged voters to visit the City’s new election website, Regina.ca/elections, for candidate profiles, voting procedure details and nominee submission details.
The nomination period for candidates to submit their papers opens on Sept. 22 and closes on Oct. 7 at 4 p.m.