Sask. inmates can vote in provincial election through mail-in ballots

Inmates incarcerated in jails and federal prisons in Saskatchewan who are eligible to vote in the provincial election can cast their ballots until the cut-off time on election day using a mail-in process.

Organizations such as the John Howard Society of Saskatchewan, a non-profit that works with inmates, have helped them register. CEO Shawn Fraser said the process to apply is straightforward, but getting information about local candidates is a challenge. Incarcerated people don't get the same flow of information — candidates aren't “door-knocking on cells the way you might in neighbourhoods,” and access to TV and radio is reduced, he said.

Inmates can ask advocates for help, since they don't get the same pamphlets and flyers as other voters.

“It's people taking their own initiative as opposed to, on the outside, there's ... political machines out there representing different parties that are out there actively encouraging people to vote, and we don't see that inside prisons,” Fraser said.

He noted that people with provincial jail sentences are serving less than two years in custody and will return to the community.

“It's important for us to realize that the issues that affect all of us affect people in prison as well,” he said.

To vote in the provincial election, an inmate has to have lived in Saskatchewan for at least six months before their incarceration and be otherwise eligible to vote. The deadline for the application process to vote by mail for sentenced and remanded inmates was Oct. 15.

The home riding where eligible inmates can vote is determined by their residential address — the place they last lived before being taken into custody. If they had no permanent residence, the address would be the place where they usually ate or slept.

Approved voters receive a writein ballot, security envelopes and voting instructions and have to hand in their ballots in sealed envelopes by 6 p.m. on Oct. 26, the day of the provincial election. Information about the application process was posted in correctional facilities this summer.

It's people taking their own initiative ... It's important for us to realize that the issues that affect all of us affect people in prison as well.

Special polls will also be set up in remand centres for the provincial election.

Inmates will not be able to vote in Saskatoon's civic election. In an email, the city's returning officer, Scott Bastian, said the legislation governing provincial and federal elections has detailed rules for the voting process at correctional facilities. He said the current provisions of The Local Government Elections Act do not facilitate voting at correctional facilities.