Sask.'s decision to count ballots by hand was partisan, not solution-centric, expert says

Votes will be hand-counted in Saskatchewan's  provincial elections later this month.

That's because the Saskatchewan government voted against having counting machines last year despite a recommendation from the province's chief electoral officer. 

Saskatchewan Party Leader Scott Moe says he believes that the use of automated vote tabulator machines in Alberta elections last year wasn't successful.

"We firmly believe that if Saskatchewan citizens are going to cast a ballot by hand, that very same ballot deserves the respect to be counted by hand," he said after officially kicking off the election campaign earlier this month. 

Last year, Elections Alberta said there were no issues with tabulators despite criticism over a slow start to election results. Despite that, the Alberta government passed a bill in May to ban the use of electronic tabulators in municipal elections.

• Watch more Sask. election coverage, including full news conferences, on CBC Saskatchewan's YouTube page.

The Alberta government's ban has invited pushback from some municipalities that worry about the cost of going back to manually counting votes. 

Edmonton projects the ban will cost $2.6 million in hiring 1,230 more advance and election-day workers to count ballots by hand, plus bringing in additional equipment for its next year's civic elections.

Aleksander Essex, an associate professor of software engineering at Western University, said he doesn't understand the concept of "respect" Moe is talking about.

"An optically scanned tabulated ballot under the law is just as respected both here in Canada and in the United States," said Essex, who specializes in the technology and cyber security of elections.

"These ballots are respected and I think that many people who work at the polls, myself included, might feel a little bit, maybe even offended at the idea that we would somehow treat our duty to an election any less because it was tabulated."

In 2023, Saskatchewan's chief electoral officer, Michael Boda, presented the Board of Internal Economy, a committee of MLAs from the government and Opposition, with recommendations to modernize the way the province conducts its elections.

The committee decided to adopt some of Boda's recommendations, but Saskatchewan Party members rejected the recommendation to introduce vote counting machines.

"We were disappointed in that decision," said Nicole Sarauer, an NDP candidate who had voted in favour of using the machines in the provincial election.

"We are not afraid of modernization, but right now we're focused on things that matter most to Saskatchewan people," she said Friday. 

Saskatchewan used the machines in three byelections in August last year. Two of those Regina constituencies were called within a half-hour of polls closing.

In an interview with CBC last year, Boda, said the byelection proved the vote counting machine total matched the number of ballots cast — adding that it was a demonstration that the tabulators improve the integrity of the system.

Saskatchewan is one of few provinces not using vote counters. Ontario, Manitoba and Alberta have used them, with B.C. lined up to use in its upcoming elections. 

Saskatoon and Regina have used vote counting machines for more than a decade and they are used in leadership contests for political parties.

Elections Canada does not use vote counting machines.

Essex said most concerns aren't associated with the machines, but how they're used. 

"I myself have never seen any evidence to suggest that any election in Canada has ever been compromised because of tabulators, so I want to put that out there. Just underscore that in red pen in general," he said. 

However, despite having that evidence, he said people still have a democratic right to ask whether their vote was counted or not — something he said is a fair concern amid technological overhauls. 

However, Essex said, those concerns can be addressed by having a post-election audit where random ballots are sampled to verify. He said the solution has precedent in the U.S., and could very well be replicated in Canada. 

Essex said the approach to using or banning tabulators has become partisan rather than solution-centric. 

"All we lack is the political will currently to change the laws to enforce this approach," he said.