Voter turnout in the 2016 provincial Saskatchewan election was about 57 per cent – a historic low for the province surpassing the previous low turnout of 64.6 per cent set in 1995, according to preliminary number from Elections Saskatchewan.
In the 2011 election that gave Brad Wall’s Saskatchewan Party his first majority was around 66 per cent. In the 2007 election, 76 per cent of voters made it to the polls.
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According preliminary data from Elections Saskatchewan, 425,265 voted either Monday or in the advance polls.
The numbers were accurate with 98 per cent of polls reporting.
The disappointing election numbers in Monday’s voting was a stark contrast to the enthusiasm that was seen during advance polling.
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Elections Saskatchewan said over 24,000 people cast ballots on the first day of advance polling last week. That’s up from the 2011 general election, when around 16,000 people voted on the first day for early voting in that election. Overall, over 110,000 people voted in the advance polls.
“The number of people voting in provincial elections has been dropping consistently for the past 30 years,” Michael Boda, Chief Electoral Officer in Saskatchewan, wrote on the Election Saskatchewan website. “And despite an ‘official’ turnout figure of 67 percent of registered voters during Saskatchewan’s 2011 election, only 51 percent of voters eligible to vote actually did.”
Premier Brad Wall and the Saskatchewan Party won a decisive, and largely expected, victory on Monday.
Voting results showed the Saskatchewan Party heading towards about 50 seats in the 61-seat legislature. The party was also took roughly two-thirds of the popular vote.
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