Monday, April 4th, 2016 is a day residents of Saskatchewan should mark on their calendars. Election day: it’s just around the corner.
Spokesman for Elections Saskatchewan, Tim Kydd, says there are a few things that voters need to know before heading out to the polls.
“First and for most, are they eligible? Again, you need to be 18 years of age, a Canadian citizen, and a resident of your constituency for at least 6 months prior to the day the election is called… what ID you need to bring when you come to vote, the ways to vote because you can vote on election day; you can vote in advance; you can vote by mail. There are many ways that you can vote… where and when to vote is important, who the candidates are. So there’s some key information there that all voters need and we provide that information on our website, and our call center also has that information,” explains Kydd.
Kydd also talked at length about working in the election at a polling station. Elections Saskatchewan is asking its residents to give a day to democracy. Either in voting or working the election polling stations, or both. In some cases you may not even be eligible to vote in the election, but you may still be able to be an elections worker. Lloydminster’s constituency will require roughly 200 workers, most of which must be eligible voters, but for the position of Information Officer, you can be under 18, which offers an opportunity to young workers in the community.
According to Kydd, Lloydminster is currently short about 100 people for working election day. Province-wide they have about 7400 names of people who have responded to the Take Part recruitment program with interest, and they need a total of approximately 10,000. There are 61 constituencies in the province: an increase of 3 since the last general election in 2011.
“Most of the constituency boundaries have changed somewhat. Lloydminster’s still includes the main communities Lloydminster, Paradise Hill, all the way up to Pierceland,” says Kydd.
Workers have to live within the constituency for which they have been assigned polling duties, and can get paid up to $230.00 for their services over just a couple days. All positions are paid, but you can choose to have it donated to a local charity.
Check out elections.sk.ca for information about candidates and parties, your constituency boundaries, and you can also express your interest in working at an election poll station on the website.