Sask. government rejects use of electronic vote counting machines in 2024 general election

Debate on merits of voting machines in Sask. WATCH: The provincial government and Elections Sask. disagree about the merits of voting machines. Allison Bamford explains.

Despite a successful test run in the most recent byelections, the Saskatchewan government has shot down any idea of using electronic vote counting machines in the next provincial election.

In all three byelections on Aug. 10, the technology was used in tandem with electronic poll books, which are essentially laptops that election workers can use to verify voters.

“Our system is antiquated,” said Election Saskatchewan’s Chief Electoral Officer Michael Boda.

“It needs to be improved, but it also needs to address the needs of a 21st century voter.”

In an effort to modernize the election process, Boda submitted directives to the Legislative Assembly’s Board of Internal Economy.

The directives include:

The board accepted the first three and rejected the others.

In a statement, Government House Leader Jeremy Harrison said the government does not and will not support the use of electronic vote counting machines in future general elections.

“Our view is that the integrity - and perception of integrity - of our election system is best served by officials conducting the ballot count while being observed by accredited scrutineers,” Harrison said.

“A ballot cast by hand should be counted by hand.”

Boda said vote counting machines do not reduce the integrity of the process but rather improve it.

The byelection results for the two Regina ridings were recorded in less than 30 minutes, thanks to the electronic vote counter. It took more than two hours to get the final results in the Lumsden-Morse riding where some polling stations had to count by hand.

“You can see that the reporting is faster and speed is an element, but accuracy is important as well and we’ve demonstrated the accuracy of these machines,” Boda said.

Elections Saskatchewan tested the accuracy of the machines by hand counting the ballots afterwards. Boda said the results matched 100 per cent, except in two cases when the hand-counting method saw errors.

“We have election workers who have already worked a 12-hour day and then they are asked to do the most difficult part of the process and that is to count and balance the ballots,” Boda said.

“It is very difficult, whereas the machines have proven over and over again to be more accurate.”

According to Boda, this technology is used across the country for elections in Ontario, Manitoba, Alberta and British Columbia. It has also been used for municipal elections in Saskatoon and Regina for decades, he said, and in some cases, political party leadership races in Saskatchewan.

“This is really a new introduction to have those concerns about vote counting equipment. That’s a very recent phenomenon,” he said.

Boda said there is some hesitancy south of the border with the introduction of technology in elections. However, he said the United States uses voting machines, not vote-counting equipment, which is a different technology.

“We use 100 per cent paper ballots in Saskatchewan,” he said.

The NDP has two seats on the Board of Internal Economy. Both representatives voted in favour of all of Boda’s directives.

“We thought that the pilot was very successful. We heard on the doorstep, voters very excited about voting week, very exciting about being able to vote anywhere and it was great actually at the end of the byelection to have the results come in really quickly,” said NDP MLA and board member Nicole Sarauer.

“[We’re] very disappointed to see a Sask Party government choose really Donald Trump-style conspiracy theories rather than looking at fact and logic.”

Other political parties have weighed in on the debate.

The Saskatchewan United Party opposes the use electronic vote counters.

“We believe the hand count process subject to scrutineers is important to our voting procedures, as it has consistently established trust in the final outcome of our elections. As such, we oppose any attempt to remove the scrutineered hand count process of our elections,” a statement from the party read.

The Progressive Conservative Party of Saskatchewan encourages the modernization of the election process.

Interim party leader Rose Busholl questioned why Sask Party MLAs would rule out the technology in future elections.

“This is about control and how the Sask Party wants to control the democratic process. To completely reject the electronic voting machines is not modernization, it is just paranoia,” Buscholl said in a statement.

The Board of Internal Economy did approve the use of electronic poll books but because that was tied together with the vote counting equipment, it was voted down.

Boda has to report back to the board in September with two revised directives outlining how to incorporate the electronic poll books in the next election without the use of the vote counters.