The snowstorm that walloped Regina Sunday may pose some challenges for today’s municipal election.
City Clerk Jim Nicol says, in anticipation of the snow, the city included streets in front of the city’s 38 polling stations into their snow removal routes.
In terms of the number of people voting today, Nicol says the snow may have an impact.
“Yes, it might have an impact, we hope that we have given people enough opportunity and ability to get to the polls between the work that roadways is doing, and our transit service,” said Nicol. “If they haven’t yet voted, we still hope that they will come out despite the weather.”
Nicol says he thinks that Reginans are used to this kind of weather so he’s expecting it to not be a huge factor.
“People in Saskatchewan are typically known to be pretty tough eggs at this kind of thing,” said Nicol. “So, we’re really hoping that it is not a major deterrent.”
According to the city’s election act, anyone who is line when the polls close will still be able to cast a ballot.
In the event that the storm paralyzes the city, Nicol says the Minister of Government Relations has the option to either extend or postpone the voting period.
Until that point, Nicol says the city is doing everything in their power to make sure the election runs smoothly.
“We are planning for everything that we can on our end, in an absolute worst case scenario, if the province is paralyzed or portions of the city are paralyzed, things like that, we would be looking for some direction from the Minister in that regard,” said Nicol.
Nicol encourages anyone who can’t drive due to the snow to take city transit to their polling station, as it will be free all day today.
