The second preliminary count for the 2020 Saskatchewan General Election started on Wednesday morning from the Delta Hotel in Regina with a number of races still waiting for updated results.
The second count consists of vote-by-mail ballots that were received up to 8:00 p.m. on Election Day – October 26. Updates of results will be provided on Elections Saskatchewan’s website at 1:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. each day until completed.
As of 1:00 p.m. on Wednesday, there were 14 constituencies which had their second preliminary count completed. According to Dr. Michael Boda, chief electoral officer for Elections Saskatchewan, the 14 constituencies are not all among the closest races in the province, however they are ones which had a relatively small number of mail-in ballots.
He said this allowed counting to be completed faster.
- Athabasca
- Cannington
- Canora-Pelly
- Carrot River Valley
- Cumberland
- Cut Knife-Turtleford
- Cypress Hills
- Kelvington-Wadena
- Kindersley
- Lloydminster
- Meadow Lake
- Moosomin
- Prince Albert Northcote
- Rosthern-Shellbrook
Ballot boxes sit stacked waiting to be counted by Elections Saskatchewan staff in Regina. (Photo: Moises Canales/620 CKRM)
The only constituency on this list that had no determined winner from Monday night was Prince Albert Northcote. Soon after the list was released, it was determined that Saskatchewan Party nominee Alana Ross had enough of a lead to be elected in the constituency, ousting incumbent Nicole Rancourt of the Saskatchewan NDP.
According to Elections Saskatchewan, 325 mail-in ballots were received from Prince Albert Northcote. 568 were issued, meaning more could arrive to counting headquarters in the coming days.
Boda said things are taking longer for this part of the process since form B ballots are being counted in this particular case.
“These are form B ballots which require either the candidate’s name or the party,” he explained. “There are variances on that and that’s in part what is taking a little bit of time. It’s fully expected.”
Boda mentioned there are 26 counting stations as part of the second preliminary count in Regina.
“Based on the guidance from the chief medical health officer, that is how many counting stations we could have in this particular facility,” he shared. “Each station has a deputy returning officer and a poll clerk, and there are a number of supervisors and staff.”
This year there were over 61,000 mail-in ballots issued in the province. Mail-in votes received after 8:00 p.m. on election night will be accepted until noon on November 5 in time for the final count on November 7.
