Annual Report & Strategic Plan - Released
Annual Report & Strategic Plan - Released
June 18, 2018
Elections Nova Scotia’s Annual Report of the Chief Electoral Officer 2017-2018 and its Strategic Plan 2018-2023 are now available.
The annual report outlines the daily operations and special projects that ENS has worked on in the past fiscal year. The agency offers modern, cost-effective and balanced elections to Nova Scotians. The strategic plan includes its vision, mission, mandate and goal statements. It also identifies projects to be delivered over the next five years.
Much has already been written about the main activity of the 2017-2018 year, the 40th Provincial General Election. Volumes I, II and III are available on the ENS website. The annual report looks at our planning outside of an election, which includes getting ready for the next election. Careful planning is needed. Our mandate as an independent and non-partisan agency means carrying out many projects between elections, so the events are fair and inclusive. In a general election, ENS quickly grows from 18 head office staff to 6,700 election workers across Nova Scotia.
“When the Premier decided to call the election, we were ready, and we delivered,” says Chief Electoral Officer Richard Temporale, “Almost every voter was within our 25 minute early vote and 15 minute election day drive time standards – the time it took them to drive to the nearest poll available. These drive time standards are the first of their kind offered to voters in Canada. It’s just one of dozens of projects executed during an election that must be planned before I sign the writs.”
Temporale points out that ENS will face some major challenges in the next five years. The strategic plan outlines our priorities and ways to measure them. The CEO says the amendments he has suggested for the Elections Act will lead to many process shifts. Members of our legislative assembly will consider those suggestions in the months ahead. ENS has been tagged to provide administrative support to the yet to be announced boundaries commission. It will also need to adapt to electoral boundary changes that result from their work. A move from our current head office and warehouse facilities is also expected before our first election ready date set for April 1, 2020. “Without a fixed election date, Elections Nova Scotia staff are always working on key projects that are “locked and loaded” before each readiness date. All systems are tested even if no election has been called,” says Temporale, “Then, the cycle resumes with the next series of changes implemented and trained on in time for the next readiness check. Readiness dates are set for each September and April until the Premier calls for the 41st general election.”
The annual report and the strategic plan are available online at electionsnovascotia.ca/Annual-Reports.
Media Contact:
Andy LeBlanc
Director, Policy & Communications
902-424-3275
Andy.LeBlanc@novascotia.ca