City of Saskatoon considering changes to election process
CTV
The City of Saskatoon is looking at modernizing the election experience for residents.
The City of Saskatoon is looking at modernizing the election experience for residents.
A report heading to the city's Governance and Priorities Committee next Wednesday discusses ways to improve the process, including having an election management system (EMS) and a partnership with Saskatchewan Elections to create a voters’ list.
“Saskatoon has not utilized a voters list since the 1988 civic election. Following this, City Council resolved that a voters’ list would not be prepared for the 1991 election, and since then, there has been no voters list,” the report said.
City Clerk Adam Tittemore told CTV News they were looking to make the voting process more efficient.
“It really streamlines things where we don't have to have any paper at the election polling stations. We can check people off the list through a laptop through the cloud-based list. It automatically strikes people off the list so we know that they have voted and they, in theory, couldn't go to another polling station because everything is live updated,” he said.
“It will save us and staffing at the polling station and just overwrite time people spend the polling stations.”
City administration cites several advantages to the changes, such as reducing lineups at polling stations, providing an easier way to verify identity for alternative voting formats like mail-in ballots, and fewer workers needed at the polls, leading to a cost saving.
