Like most Canadians, I received a voter card in the mail and shoved it in my pocket as I ran off to vote last night. I stood in the line to get directed to my polling station (no direction needed to find my polling station) and after twenty minutes I got to the front the election officials informed me that because my driver’s license address didn’t match the one on my voter registrati. No problem, I said, and swiftly produced a bill with my post office box address matching the registration..
This was not good enough for Mr. Harper’s election. I would have to go stand in another line. The longest line in the gym.
And so I found myself sandwiched between the guy who’s name was spelled wrong by one letter and a group of people unable to prove their address after moving across town while maintaining the same address. Dozens of others stood in line with the same problem, mostly those who move frequently or have roommates in charge of the more important bills.
With time to ponder, I realized this is exactly what ol’ Steve hoped for with his “Fair Elections Act”, and act to which I paid very little attention to when it was passed. Formerly, if your voter card had your name, it was ID enough. Now you have to prove your address. Formerly, anyone could vouch for you; attesting to your identity and allowing you to vote. Now, only someone who lives in the same polling division (Read: six block radius of your home) can vouch. Formerly, voting was a swift process. Now I was watching the live stream update of results in the east (the Conservatives were losing the Liberals were winning!) while I waited in a line of epic proportions.
I watched one person stand by my polling station for 40 minutes trying to find someone, anyone, who could vouch for him, long after most people (Harper hoped) would give up and go home. I would have vouched for him myself, but apparently after swearing on six different criteria that I live at my own address, I couldn’t do it for anyone else. Only one truth allowed per election, I suppose.
It would take me over an hour of hoop-jumping and swearing I was over 18 to exercise my democratic right. I passed all the skill testing questions. I filled out all the forms. I didn’t vote Conservative, and I hope the next one will be a fairer election.
This was not good enough for Mr. Harper’s election. I would have to go stand in another line. The longest line in the gym.
And so I found myself sandwiched between the guy who’s name was spelled wrong by one letter and a group of people unable to prove their address after moving across town while maintaining the same address. Dozens of others stood in line with the same problem, mostly those who move frequently or have roommates in charge of the more important bills.
With time to ponder, I realized this is exactly what ol’ Steve hoped for with his “Fair Elections Act”, and act to which I paid very little attention to when it was passed. Formerly, if your voter card had your name, it was ID enough. Now you have to prove your address. Formerly, anyone could vouch for you; attesting to your identity and allowing you to vote. Now, only someone who lives in the same polling division (Read: six block radius of your home) can vouch. Formerly, voting was a swift process. Now I was watching the live stream update of results in the east (the Conservatives were losing the Liberals were winning!) while I waited in a line of epic proportions.
I watched one person stand by my polling station for 40 minutes trying to find someone, anyone, who could vouch for him, long after most people (Harper hoped) would give up and go home. I would have vouched for him myself, but apparently after swearing on six different criteria that I live at my own address, I couldn’t do it for anyone else. Only one truth allowed per election, I suppose.
It would take me over an hour of hoop-jumping and swearing I was over 18 to exercise my democratic right. I passed all the skill testing questions. I filled out all the forms. I didn’t vote Conservative, and I hope the next one will be a fairer election.