(Dawson Thompson/paNOW Staff)

By Alison Sandstrom

civic election

P.A. election ‘turnout strong despite challenges’: returning officer

Nov 10, 2020 | 4:15 PM

Despite a lower voter turnout than four years ago, Prince Albert’s returning officer is confident people who wanted to were able to get to the polls Monday. Meanwhile re-elected Mayor Greg Dionne says he’s already in talks with the province to ensure residents don’t have to vote in the snow again.

Just over 7,000 people voted in the 2020 Prince Albert Mayoral election — that’s 3,000 fewer than in the previous election.

In 2016, the city estimated there were 26,802 eligible voters in Prince Albert. Assuming the population of people able to cast a ballot remains the same four years later, that means 2020 saw a voter turnout rate of around 27 per cent compared to 38 per cent in 2016. An updated estimate on the number of eligible voters will be released Friday along with official election results.

“The road conditions were a factor, but as we saw, thousands of people did still come out to vote,” returning officer Sherry Person told paNOW.

Person explained conditions improved throughout the day as crews mobilized to clear the streets with an emphasis on areas near polling stations.

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“We were satisfied that voters could get to the polls if they wanted to vote,” she said, noting turnout picked up substantially between 4 p.m. and 8 p.m.

Person said they did consider postponing or extending voting, but decided against it. She noted while Saskatoon and Swift Current did postpone their elections, both cities had polls that did not open Monday, whereas all polling stations in P.A. were open on time, with staff in place.

Ultimately Person said voter turnout would have likely been lower this year regardless of the weather because of the pandemic.

“We were hopeful people would come out and vote more, but we believed that the numbers would be very similar to the province where they saw lower numbers on election day at the polls,” she said.

Similar to provincial election trends, Person said the city saw a massive increase in people choosing to cast their ballots by mail or in advance polls.

“Turnout was strong despite the challenges that we faced,” she said.

Person thanked poll workers and city snow clearing crews who worked tirelessly on Monday.

Mayor says weather affected seniors’ vote

Meanwhile Mayor Greg Dionne called Monday’s weather conditions a nightmare.

“It did drop the people that would have voted by 29 per cent [from 2016],” Dionne said. “And what concerns me about that 29 per cent is most of them were seniors and that’s where my strongest support is, in the senior community. And so that was a great concern for me,” he said, noting it obviously worked out fine for him personally in the end.

Asked if he felt voters had given him a strong enough mandate, given he won by a relatively slim margin of 245 votes, Dionne said yes.

“At the end of the day, you need the majority plus one, so I have a clear mandate to proceed,” he said.

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alison.sandstrom@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @alisandstrom