The City of Estevan is making final preparations for the upcoming civic election on Oct. 26.
City clerk Judy Pilloud said there will be two polling stations for residents. Those who live south of the CP Rail tracks will vote at the Estevan Art Gallery and Museum. Those who are north of the tracks will head to the Estevan Church of God.
Polls will be open from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. on election day.
Voters are asked to bring a piece of photo identification. Those who lack photo ID will require two pieces of ID, and one must have an address to prove they are an Estevan resident.
Pilloud noted there is also a form on the city’s website that will allow people to advance through the lineup quicker. It can be filled out in advance, and then signed in front of a worker at the polling station.
The city will also use electronic voting in a civic election for the first time. They tried out an electronic voting system for the councillor byelection in April 2014, and it proved to be very successful, as the results were tabulated within 30 minutes of the polls closing.
The system will be leased from Electronic Systems and Software.
“We are leasing it, and part of the reason is you only use it every four years, and at the rate the technology changes, it really doesn’t make sense to for us to purchase it, because you still have to maintain them, and you still have to take them in and get them tested before you actually run the election,” said Pilloud.
The technology for the electronic polling stations changes about every six years, she said.
Pilloud hopes the results will be known before 9 p.m. on Oct. 26. In the last civic election in 2012, when manual voting was employed, the final polling station reported after midnight.
“This has better speed and more accuracy,” said Pilloud.
It will cost about $10,000 to lease the equipment, and there will be extra costs for ballots and USB devices, but the expense should be offset since the city will have about 24 people working instead of 40.
The first two advance polls for the election occurred on Oct. 13. One at Trinity Tower for residents of that building attracted 44 people, and another at city hall attracted 72 people who wanted to vote prior to Oct. 26.
“It’s similar (to four years ago), and I expect to have approximately another 70 to 100 people at the next advance poll, based on the reception I received the other night (on Oct. 13),” said Pilloud. “I still have people calling in.”
The next advance poll for the community will occur on Oct. 22 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at city hall.
Pilloud said people were appreciative that the city had an advance poll so soon in October. According to the provincial regulations, Oct. 13 was the earliest they could have such a poll.
“I was trying to accommodate the snowbirds, because a lot of them like to leave right around Thanksgiving,” said Pilloud.
There will be special polls for the residents of Valley View Heritage Place, St. Joseph’s Hospital, Inglis Court, Creighton Lodge, Midtown Manor and Yardley Place.
As for the Rural Municipality of Estevan, there will be an election for reeve this year. The polling station will be located at the RM’s office from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Oct. 26.
