
With the October 26 provincial election campaign expected to shift into high gear once the writ is dropped in mid-September, the governing Saskatchewan Party has a sizeable lead in the number of candidates nominated in the province’s 61 constituencies.
As of Friday, August 21, the Saskatchewan Party had nominated 58 candidates. In 20 ridings, the Saskatchewan Party has the sole candidate, according to the official Elections Saskatchewan website.
The New Democratic Party (NDP) has 36 candidates nominated as of August 21.
The Progressive Conservative (PC) Party has 12 candidates, the Saskatchewan Green Party has nine, and the Saskatchewan Liberal Party has no candidates officially registered with Elections Saskatchewan as of August 21. There are also two Independent candidates registered.
But the field of candidates is expected to increase in the next few weeks.
One newly-registered political party in this election is the Buffalo Party of Saskatchewan (BPS). Formerly known as the Wexit Party of Saskatchewan, the name was changed in late July.
According to the BPS website, the party has nominated three candidates.
Provincial constituencies in the Gazette coverage area include Martensville-Warman, Rosthern-Shellbrook, Biggar-Sask Valley, Batoche, Rosetown-Elrose, and Saskatoon Stonebridge-Dakota.
In four of those six ridings, the Saskatchewan Party incumbent candidate is the only name on the ballot so far. They include Premier Scott Moe in Rosthern-Shellbrook, Jim Reiter in Rosetown-Elrose, Bronwyn Eyre in Saskatoon Stonebridge-Dakota, and Randy Weekes in Biggar-Sask Valley.
Sask Party incumbent candidate Delbert Kirsch in Batoche is facing off against the NDP’s Lon Borgenson.
In Martensville-Warman, Sask Party candidate Terry Jenson is being challenged by Buffalo Party of Saskatchewan leader Wade Sira. While the Elections Saskatchewan website does not list Sira as a candidate as of August 21, it is expected that will change when the list is updated on August 28. Jenson won the Sask Party nomination for the riding last year after veteran MLA Nancy Heppner announced she would not seek re-election.
Elections Saskatchewan has adopted guidelines aimed at ensuring safety for voters and election workers durimg the COVID-19 pandemic.
in addition to health protocols for polling stations, Elections Saskatchewan is ramping up the use of mail-in ballots. As of August 17, voters can vote by mail.
The process of “absentee voting” involves completing an application for a mail ballot by logging onto the Elections Saskatchewan website at www.elections.sk.ca/votebymail. The deadline for applications is October 15, but voters are encouraged to fill out the forms well in advance of that date.
Once the application is approved, a voting kit will be physically mailed out to the voter in late September and the completed ballots must be received by Elections Saskatchewan no later than 8 pm on election day, October 26.