City
Election Problems & Civic Duty
I hope you voted. More importantly, I hope your voting experience wasn't as troubling as mine was. I could have been a non-citizen, a repeat voter, or Borat Sagdiyev and still cast a vote. This is how it happened.
I went to my local voting station. At the entrance of the school gymnasium, a friendly woman directed me to an open registration table. I approached the smiling ballot officials, with a smile. My name wasn't on the voter list, but my address was (along with the name of another, different resident of the same house). I was given a form to complete (to add myself as a voter). I completed and returned the form, and was given a ballot in a secrecy folder and oral instructions on how to complete it....
I walked over to the tables where the marking of ballots was to take place. I tried to squeeze my ballot, hand, and marker into the tiny box shield but could no longer see the ballot when I did this. There was another voting box right next to me, and an older fellow approached and fumbled around in his tiny box as well. I wondered why there weren't any voter screens. I also wondered if they are mandatory or not. We exchanged confused/surprised glances and both pulled our uncompleted ballots out from the boxes and used our folders to shield our ballots as we completed them in more plain view. The tabulator officer then put our completed cards through the computer. Voting completed.
As I walked towards the exit, I realized something. I had cast a vote, but wasn't on the voters list, at no point was I asked to show identification, and I could have been anyone really. That's not right.
I returned to the officials at registration, showed them my driver's license and insisted that they cross-reference it with the information I wrote on the forms I completed. Smiles dropped. They apologized for their negligence, and when I suggested that I would have to report the incident, they agreed. I haven't filed an official complaint yet. Should I?
(image: City of Toronto)
Discussion
20 Comments
Sort By Oldest First / Newest First
Subscribe
"If you do not have acceptable identification you will be asked to swear an oath before being issued a ballot."
<a href="http://www.toronto.ca/vote2006/voter-faq.htm";>http://www.toronto.ca/vote2006/voter-faq.htm<;/a>
So I guess it doesn't matter if you have ID or not.
What does this oath entail?
I share your experience with the MINI voting screens which would be good only to sign a credit card receipt. As for ID: driver's license in no way means you are a Canadian citizen, anyone who lives in Toronto for more than 60 days would have to change their license into Ontario license by law. But they could be just a landed immigrant or a foreigner living here on business visa or a foreign student etc.
I was also baffled by the midget "screening" boxes on the voting tables.
How is an oath effective in any way? If someone's ALREADY trying to commit voting fraud, they clearly won't have any scruples about uttering a false oath.
I agree there should be procedures in place to prevent it from happening, but I've got to say...is there anyone, really, who gets such a kick out of voting that they go and do it fraudulently around town?
By the way, if anyone has hard numbers about how 'the rest of the world' uses the 'X' ballot-marking system, I'd like to see them. Until then, stop making bogus claims about which ballot system is the 'right' one to use. You sure didn't need a Master's degree to cast this ballot, that's all that matters.
Why?
In order to ensure a fair election, isolated voting booths reduce the probability of bias/persuasion at the most crucial moment in the campaign. Just as important is the simple fact that many people prefer to keep their vote private.
They should have that right. And election day planners should provide a voting environment that allows for ample privacy.
Provincial and federal ballots only have one race on each piece of paper and are counted by hand, so you can mark 'em any old way (as long as it's no so wild that a scrutineer will complain).