You are probably used to hearing about advance polls and voting on election day but for this provincial election it is “Voting Week”. Dr. Michael Boda, Chief Electoral Officer of Saskatchewan says it is part of Election Saskatchewan plans to broaden access to voting across the province. He says everyone should have access to their ballot. He points out that in past it was about election day where the voter is tied to a ballot box in a particular location.

“And really what this does is that within your constituency you can vote at any location on any of the six days that are available. So that’s what Voting Week is about, it’s about making it easier for the voters. We’re going to have locations open for 56 hours over the course of October 22nd to October 28th.”

There are more locations with constituencies within the cities that will all be open. In rural areas there will be early voting centres open but on the last day there will be smaller polls that will be open. He says that means they’ll open up more polls on election day in an effort to make sure no one has to drive more than 30 minutes to vote.

There is no voting on October 27th, the day before the election. If you are a registered voter in the province then in addition to the voting card that you should receive in the mail with all the polling locations and times for your constituency, Elections Saskatchewan says registering ahead of time makes voting faster. You can check, update or add your voter registration on their website. Elections.sk.ca can answer all your questions regarding how, when and where to vote. Deadline to register early is October 19.

Dr. Boda says even with the extra polling locations being made available this election should cost around the same as the election in 2020.