News Release – For Immediate Release
“The Progressive Conservative Party of Saskatchewan wants to encourage the voting process to move forward into the modern world,” says Interim Leader Rose Buscholl. She says that electronic vote counting machines worked well in the three recent by-elections and could serve us well during the general provincial election coming up in 2024. Says she agrees with Dr. Michael Boda, Chief Electoral Officer for Elections Saskatchewan that they helped speed up the vote counting process, are not connected in any way to the internet, and the results proved accurate when confirmed by hand counts. She adds that electronic vote counting machines are cheaper and much faster than hand counting methods and cannot understand why the Sask Party is ruling their use out in future elections in this province.”
Buscholl said “All of the parties’ Chief Official Agents and another member had an opportunity to see these machines at work and no one at that meeting was in opposition to them at the time. Not even the Sask Party representatives. This is about control and how the Sask Party wants to control the democratic process. To completely reject the electronic voting machines is not modernization, it is just paranoia.”
She feels that in the event of a close vote, a hand count may be required in some constituencies, but this is not usually the case. “Utilizing vote counting machines has proven to be effective and should be included in all future elections,” says Buscholl.
More information can be obtained by contacting the PC Party of Saskatchewan at 306-565-5580.