By Election: February 5, 2014

Due to the resignation of Sheldon Goodheart, a by-election needs to be held to fill the vacant Council seat.

The legislation stipulates that the election must be on a Wednesday. Government Relations has an interactive tool to help municipalities determine the best date to hold the by election. Based on all of the information provided, including nomination deadlines, advance polls, campaigning, and more, the best date was February 5, 2014. It does seem like a long time and that is due to the Christmas season.

Below is the calendar the province provides to help determine by election dates. The nomination deadline needs to be adjusted to January 2, 2014 Click here to use the calendar. It will open into an excel spreadsheet.

Election Day:		Wednesday, February 05, 2014
Section	Date	Shaded dates refer to a date contingent on business days - adjust for statutory holidays if applicable	Notes
		Required / Recommended Actions
		Obtain latest copy of Local Government Elections Act and regulations from www.qp.gov.sk.ca	Italicized items are suggestions only; they are not legislatively required.
28	6-Nov	Deadline for Council to appoint person other than the administrator as Returning Officer for upcoming General Election
31	As early as possible	Returning Officer to complete Oath of Election Official	date not legislated; should occur prior to publishing call for nominations
92	As early as possible	Returning Officer shall authorize one or more advance polls	date not legislated
		Depending upon newspaper schedule, send advertising for call for nominations
		Begin contacting people to consider appointment as election officials
		Order election supplies, other than ballots and templates
45	17-Dec	Deadline to post / publish Notice of Call for Nominations - send copy to school division(s)	at least 10 business days before Nomination Day
50	1-Jan	Nomination Day (9:00 am until 4:00 pm)	nominations can be received any time after publishing the Call for Nominations until 4:00 this day
52	2-Jan	Candidate may withdraw nomination until 4:00 pm	nominations may be withdrawn at any time after filing until this deadline
55              56	As early as possible	Post / publish Notice of Call for Further Nominations, Notice of Poll, Notice of Advance Poll, Notice of Abandonment of Poll	as applicable
54	15-Jan	Nomination Day (Second Call) if required	nominations accepted from Call for Further Nominations until 4:00 this day; no opportunity to withdraw
55              56	As early as possible	Post / publish Notice of Poll, Notice of Advance Poll, Notice of Abandonment of Poll	as applicable
		Order ballots, if not already done
		Begin to assemble supplies for DROs
		Training for DROs & other officials at Advance Polls should be held at least 2 days before the first advance poll
31	On or before date of Advance Poll	Advance Poll officials subscribe to their Oath of Election Official
		Provide Advance Poll DROs with election supplies
92	21-Jan	Advance Poll, first day possible
92	1-Feb	Advance Poll, last day possible
		Training for DROs & other officials should be held at least 2 days before Election Day
31	On or before Election Day	Election officials subscribe to their Oath of Election Official	date not legislated
		Provide DROs with election supplies
5	5-Feb	Election Day
	6-Feb	Results of election declared at the time and place previously determined by the Returning Officer	date not legislated
110	7-Feb	Notify Minister of election results	update Municipal Directory System; complete and transmit Notice of Election Results
126	12-Feb	Deadline to receive a request for recount (depending on date results were declared)	4 business days after election results are declared
121 [MA]	9-Mar	Deadline for first meeting of council after a general election

If you have any questions about the schedule please contact me or the Town Office.

If you are thinking of running, congratulations, please don't hesitate to contact me and arrange for lunch or coffee to discuss the issues.