Saskatchewanians continue to turn out in record numbers for early voting, with the province in the home stretch for its provincial election.
Saturday was the last day to vote early in the province, with polls open to 7 p.m.
According to fresh data from Elections Saskatchewan, the province has already smashed early voting records.
More than 223,000 people cast an early ballot in the first four days of advance polling, topping the record 184,742 people who voted early in the 2020 election.
The high early turnout comes as conflicting polls suggest a photo finish in the race between Scott Moe’s incumbent Saskatchewan Party and Carla Beck’s NDP.
Polling by Mainstreet Research released on Friday put the NDP in the lead with 49 per cent compared to the Saskatchewan Party’s 45 per cent among decided voters. Cardinal Research, meanwhile, released polling Saturday that showed the Saskatchewan Party with a lead of 49 per cent compared to 43 per cent for the NDP.
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Both Beck and Moe were on the campaign trail again on Saturday, making a final stop in Saskatoon ahead of official election day on Monday.
Beck appeared outside Royal University Hospital, where she was joined by members of the Saskatchewan Union of Nurses, where she referenced recent favourable polling.
“I know we’re going to have to knock every door and pull every vote but I am feeling optimistic,” she told supporters.
“I don’t think you should stake everything on any one poll, but when I see the momentum, when I see the response that we’re getting on the doorsteps, I’m very encouraged.”
Moe, meanwhile, campaigned just a few kilometres away, joined by local candidates at Prairieland Park.
“What we’re focused on is forming a majority government, so that we can put forward the plan that we’re putting forward, before the people of Saskatchewan,” Moe said.
“We will aim and target to win that incumbent government by trying to win each and every one of the sixty-one (seats) that we have in the province of Saskatchewan.”
The two leaders have used the final days of the campaign to hammer home their competing pitches to voters.
Moe says voting for the NDP would lead to a declining economy, hospital and school closures and people leaving for other provinces, and that his party has a record of growing jobs. A re-elected Saskatchewan Party would strengthen the economy and put more money in people’s pockets, he says.
Beck says the province’s health-care system has suffered during Moe’s time as premier. She says streets are no longer safe and the province is near the bottom nationally in creating full-time jobs.
If elected, she says she will fix health care, provide more funding for schools and pause the gas tax for six months.
Polls are closed on Sunday, but will open provincewide on Monday at 9 a.m.
With files from Global’s Moosa Imran and the Canadian Press
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