Thank you, Madam Chair.
My name is Ray Orb. I am the president of SARM. I was born and raised and live in a small community northeast of Regina with a population of 625 people.
I'd like to thank the standing committee today.
SARM represents all the 296 rural municipalities in the province and has been the voice of rural municipal government for over 100 years. Today, I'll share some perspectives with you.
First, I would like to say that it would be essential to communicate the reasons why a federal election is needed now, during a pandemic. To encourage rural voters to start to participate in the federal election during a pandemic, those in government must ensure the voting public understands why it has to happen now and why it is not better to wait until after a vaccine is available for COVID-19. Rural voters will be weighing the risks to their health and safety against the reason for a federal election when they are deciding whether to participate or not.
Holding an election at the right time in the calendar year is also key to attracting rural-based voters to cast their ballots. Canadian agriculture is at the very heart of rural Canada and plays a significant role in our daily lives, from employing family and neighbours to feeding the globe. This means avoiding an election date that coincides with key agriculture activities such as seeding and harvest. It's imperative to ensure rural voter turnout. Farmers are not thinking about elections when they are taking off their year's income in a month-long period.
In Saskatchewan, we just came through fall municipal and provincial elections amidst the pandemic and recognized some trends we thought would be helpful to share. Municipal elections also took place in other provinces this fall, making them good points of reference.
Advance voting for Saskatchewan's provincial election recognized historic increases. In 2016, over 110,000 people voted at advance polls. This year, it increased to 185,000, which is 67%. Ensuring that opportunities for advance polls are easily accessible and well-promoted is imperative. Offering voters advance polling stations in their immediate area with extended operating hours would likely prove beneficial to voter participation.
In the New Brunswick municipal election, advance polling was stretched over three days. This spread out the in-person voter population over the span of days. Promoting these alternative methods of voting more widely, well in advance of election day, along with reminders of how using these alternative methods can help reduce potential exposures to COVID-19 would be encouraging.
There was also an increase in the uptake of those mail-in ballots to vote in Saskatchewan's provincial election. A record 56,000 mail-in ballots were returned and counted this year. This is in comparison to the mere 4,000 mail-in ballots that were counted in 2016. Ensuring the method for distributing and receiving back mail-in ballots is fine-tuned and promoting this mail-in option to voters well in advance of election day would also encourage participation. Consideration should be given to allow adequate time for mail-in ballots to arrive and be counted prior to election day. The time it takes for ballots to arrive via regular mail slowed the ability for election officials to be officially announced, in some situations, until days after the general election.
To ensure the health and safety of voters, ensuring that polling stations are equipped with adequate hand sanitizer, masks, disposable pencils for marking ballots, proper barriers and easily identifiable marks on the floor or signs to indicate proper social distancing, etc., are important. It would also be important to ensure that these protective measures are well-communicated before advance polls and election day, so voters know they can feel safe when they choose to cast their vote in person.
In the Nova Scotia fall general elections, the province encouraged all municipalities to use telephone or Internet voting. Some municipalities decided to use solely electronic voting, while others made use of a combination of paper and electronic voting options. Opting for in-person voting meant renting more polling stations, hiring more election staff and spending more on adequate cleaning. For voters concerned about attending a polling station in person, they allowed voters to cast a ballot via proxy.
In closing, on behalf of the Saskatchewan's rural municipalities and agricultural producers, we thank the standing committee for the opportunity to lend our voice to this important conversation. We look forward to continued dialogue as we all work together to protect the interests and the health and safety of Canadians.
Thank you.