Humboldt’s mayor is happy to see the provincial government keep civic elections in the fall of 2020 after they mused about holding them a year later.
Instead, the province will hold the provincial election on Oct. 26, 2020 and the civic elections on Nov. 9, giving a two-week gap between elections. The change was made because the original schedule had the two elections five days apart.
Rob Muench said Humboldt city council voted to tell the provincial government to not delay civic elections by a year.
“I’m glad that will be the case,” he wrote in an email. “What concerns me is having both elections so close together may cause some confusion between the two and may also lead to voter fatigue.”
Future provincial elections will be held on the last Monday in October, while future civic elections will occur on the second Wednesday in November, unless that day is a Remembrance Day.
Ray Orb, the president of the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities, said in a release his organization is satisfied with the change.
“Our members did not want to postpone municipal elections by one year and although a date change was not our preferred option, the current option will allow time for our farmers to complete harvest and will not interfere with SARM’s Midterm Convention 2020.”
The province’s chief electoral officer recommended back in April 2017 the province move their election to April 5, 2021 and then have the next election on the first Monday in November four years later.
Scott Moe, the province’s premier, said that timing the provincial election in October will allow a new government to introduce a throne speech in the fall and a budget in the spring.
