Following a global search, Michael Boda was appointed Saskatchewan’s new Chief Electoral Officer by order of the Legislative Assembly as provided in The Election Act, 1996 on June 1, 2012. Born and raised in Regina, Saskatchewan, he has for the past seventeen years offered advice to national and international institutions on issues relating to election administration, law and assessment. 

Dr. Boda has served on the senior staff of the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES), a Washington, DC-based international non-governmental organization dedicated to facilitating improved election administration worldwide.  He has been a visiting research fellow at the Brookings Institution and the National Endowment for Democracy. For the past decade, he has provided advisory services internationally on electoral issues, working in countries including Jordan, Pakistan, Ghana, Scotland, and the United States.

Dr. Boda holds doctorates from Oxford (Law) and Johns Hopkins (Political Science) universities and is an Adjunct Professor at Johns Hopkins University.

The Chief Electoral Officer is an independent officer of the Saskatchewan Legislature.  As head of Elections Saskatchewan, the Chief Electoral Officer ensures the fair and equitable conduct of operational, administrative and financial electoral practices.  The Office of the Chief Electoral Officer’s mission is to enable provincial electors, registered political parties and candidates to exercise their democratic rights by ensuring impartiality and statutory compliance under the Election Act.