The Red Pheasant Cree Nation band election scheduled for March 20 is scheduled to go ahead despite concerns about the COVID-19 virus.
The decision to go ahead with the vote is controversial, with some band members expressing their view that the election should be postponed due to concerns about the number of people who will be gathered for the vote.
Despite that, Red Pheasant has announced in a news release that it is proceeding with the election, but with the following safety measures in place.
For the pre-election period, they are promoting the use of mail-in ballots for voters to limit in-person voting, and using social media to inform electors of specific preventative measures.
During the election period, they are encouraging voters to bring their own pencils or pens when voting in person, making use of more voting tables for social distancing as well as separate tables for elders; to not allow more than 50 people in the voting station at any time; to ensure routine cleaning of voting tables after every 5-10 voters, to encourage a ten-foot distance between people, usage of gloves and hand sanitizer within the polling station, and security to enforce the limited number of people as well as distancing.
For the post-election period, they are limiting the number of scrutineers to one for each candidate.
A message has been posted on social media to voters from Burke Ratte, electoral officer for Red Pheasant Cree Nation. It states that when voters attend the polls they are urged to attend the polls to vote only, to proceed directly to the polls to vote and to not remain any longer than necessary.
Voters are also urged to ensure they are keeping a safe distance from all others at the polling station and to wash hands or use hand sanitizer prior to and after attending.
Despite that, concerns have been expressed that the elections will attract a flood of people to Red Pheasant on voting day, including band members living in other communities and provinces. There have been some local calls by band members to postpone the vote, in the wake of Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations as well as Saskatchewan government declaring states of emergency.
Already, one other band in the province, the Lac La Ronge band, has cancelled the advance polls for their election scheduled for March 19th. A decision has not been made yet on whether their band election on March 30 will go ahead on that date.
One band member, Sandi Arias, pointed to the Lac La Ronge decision and posted on Facebook that she wanted to see the election on Red Pheasant postponed.
"Life has drastically changed," she stated. "It will be different in the days and months to come. Have enough decency and post pone this election. What is wrong with your common sense? True leaders would do what is right."
