Delays renew debate over civic voters list

A voters’ list may not have prevented hour-long line ups at polling stations, says Saskatoon’s civic election returning officer.

Voters who headed to Westmount School in Ward 2, Brunskill School in Ward 6 and Elim Church in Ward 9 shortly before the polls closed at 8 p.m. were met with huge lineups. Everyone who was in line by 8 p.m. was allowed to cast a ballot, but some people chose to leave without voting when faced with the prospect of waiting an hour to do so.

Some upset voters took to social media to complain about the inefficient voting process and lament Saskatoon’s lack of a voting list.

Unlike the federal and provincial elections, when voters’ cards were mailed to homes in advance and voters’ names were crossed off a list before they were handed a ballot, voters in Wednesday’s municipal election had to sign a declaration that they were eligible to vote in the ward before receiving a ballot. In both cases, voters need to produce government-issued photo identification.

Returning officer Catherine Folkersen said she’s “not totally sold” that a voters’ list would have sped up the process. She said having a voters’ list would require double the staff at polling stations because two people need to work to find a voter on the list, cross the name off and issue the appropriate ballot.

Folkersen said decisions about staffing at polls were based on voter turnout in 2012, and that long lineups occurred in areas where turnout was much higher than it was in the previous election.

“You’re making a judgment call based on data that’s four years old and we all know what happens when you make a judgment call based on data that’s four year’s old. You’re not right 100 per cent of the time,” she said.

A report to city council in the spring estimated it would cost $380,000 to produce a voters’ list for this year’s election; a split city council voted not to spend the money.

Coun. Ann Iwanchuk, who was among the minority to support the voters’ list, said she will continue to advocate for one.

Such a tool would speed up the voting process — “if you’re on the list, I don’t see how it wouldn’t have helped the lineups” — and also encourage higher voter turnout, she said.

Turnout for this election was 40 per cent, up slightly from 37 per cent in 2012.

“I was actually quite surprised by the numbers because we heard so much about the mayoral campaign and I thought that would really significantly increase the turnout,” Iwanchuk said.

The Ward 3 councillor said she heard from constituents who didn’t know if they were eligible to vote because they hadn’t received a voter card in the mail.

“When you have an enumeration process, when you have a voters’ list, it raises the level of engagement, of participation, and we need to do that for the civic politics,” she said.

Coun. Darren Hill said that one of the first things he will do when council sits is ask for a review of the voting process. In addition to people upset about long lineups to vote, he also heard about people who voted in the wrong wards during advance polling, he said.

“It needs to be addressed. There is now not even a mechanism to go back and do any kind of check or audit on the election because they don’t indicate which ballot is given to which person.”

Hill said the city should investigate how to work with the province to access its voters’ list, and start exploring more 21st-century ways to vote.

“Now’s the time to look at online voting again. If other organizations can do it, I see no reason why we can’t explore it ourselves,” he said.