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Canadian Election: I Voted!
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by Jordan Yerman | October 14, 2008 at 06:04 am
243 views | 21 Recommendations | 7 comments
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Election day in Canada: I rolled up at the local school as the polling place was just opening. The volunteers were not yet finished taping up the "vote here" signs, and impatient voters were pooling by the school's side door. At 9:29am, we filed into the school hallway and queued at the gymnasium door. It's always school gymnasiums.
As a n00b to the district, I had to re-register, and was the first one to do so this morning. The volunteer (wo)manning the table was still looking up the instructions, but fortunately the process was fairly straightforward. I then moved to the next queue: that for my voting district ("ridings": I tell myself that the electoral region got its name because that's how far a candidate could ride on horseback in one afternoon, but that's probably not true, but c'mon, it's not a bad little story).
The two women running the actual polling desk for my district reconfirmed my new registration and made the appropriate changes against the pre-generated electora rolls, and then gave me a ballot, which they hand-folded. I loved that extra touch.
Behind the cardboard blind, I ticked off the party whom I wanted to represent my riding. Canadians don't see Harper or Dion or Leyton or any other party leader on their ballots- we vote for the party, who in turn selects the Prime Minister, US-style campaign commercials notwithstanding.
I noticed that neither the paper ballot nor the ballot-box volunteers had a USB port, so there was no chance of Diebold-style hacking. That inspired confidence. I dropped my ballot into the ballot box myself, thanked the volunteers on the way out, and made my way out of the school. Other local voters were beginning to arrive in larger numbers (i.e. more than three) as I was leaving.
My civic duty done, I came back here to write about it. Now I'm off to the gym. Peace.
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Jordan Yerman
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (7)
at 06:19 on October 14th, 2008
Way to go, Jordan!
at 07:43 on October 14th, 2008
Nice work Jordan. I did my civic duty at the crack of dawn this morning too. School gyms, frost and the regular confusion; democracy at work.
at 08:28 on October 14th, 2008
Countries always, always get the governments they deserve. It is a painful thing to contemplate, but if you don't like the party in power, you need to ask yourself hard questions. In the case of Canada, the great Liberal Party vote-winning machine blew apart because of corruption and arrogance. Harper will win again because the left in Canada does not know what it wants, has no plan as to what it wants to achieve, and is so fractured by cultural, regional and linguistic factors, it is unable to come together on anything. In this environment, the Conservatives can flourish.
at 08:55 on October 14th, 2008
I'm waiting till after lunch so I can get my morning chores done. The polling station is about a block away so I can just wander over then come home and get on with my day. This is the first time since I moved into my house in '94 that the rep of my choice stands a chance. The incumbent retired. She was so good at her job that she always won irrespective of party lines. Her replacement is raw and untried and the signs for my fave party are blooming like spring flowers all over the place. I finally feel like my vote has worth. I really wish we had more proportional representation.
at 09:30 on October 14th, 2008
I voted this morning already too as I won't have time after work.
When I got there it was surprisingly busy and did seem a little unorganized but the process was fairly quick as I was already registered.
at 10:28 on October 14th, 2008
I live at the same address in Toronto for thirty years. Since I don’t drive and I always use my passport as my ID and never had any problem for travel to different countries. However, this morning when I went to voting station at <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 />9:30 am when the poll was suppose to open and a small line already formed at the door. But we had to wait for another10 minute for the poll clerks to get ready. Finally, after they checked my passport at the door and make sure my name matched my voter’s card and was directed to the poll table.
I was surprised to ask to see my ID again; after I presented my passport I was told which was not good enough! The two women demanded I show a second ID with my photo and address on it!( even on my passport it showed the same address as my voting card). At the point I just loose my cool, I just grab my passport and marched back to the little table by the door and wanted an explanation of this. A supervisor was called and I was assured my passport was the proper ID for me to vote. This make me think if I was less in command of one of the official languages and did not know my right I would just turned away and not able to cast my vote. Clearly, some of the clerks were ill prepared for their jobs.at 14:49 on October 14th, 2008
jordan, I like this story. It's good stuff. My husband was refused because he only had a valid passport so he pulled out an unopened envelope(a bill) and the clerk accepted that. Clearly, not enough training to the clerks. I must say, tho, that whomever gets to form the next government we should all be proud of the process that we agree to -- no pushing, intimidation, long waits, stuffing of ballot boxes. Canadians may not agree on who to elect, but we sure do a good job electing them!