With all the horror stories I'm seeing about voter suppression I thought I would share with my poor, suffering liberal brethren South of the border how your friendly neighbors to the North handle our elections.
In Canada we have non partisan groups that run elections such as Elections Canada or for Provincial, Elections Nova Scotia/Ontario/British Columbia, etc.
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
Mandate
Its responsibilities include:
- Making sure that all voters have access to the electoral system
- Informing citizens about the electoral system
- Maintaining the National Register of Electors
- Enforcing electoral legislation
- Training election officers
- Producing maps of electoral districts
- Registering political parties, electoral district associations, and third parties that engage in election advertising
- Administering the allowances paid to registered political parties
- Monitoring election spending by candidates, political parties and third parties
- Publishing financial information on political parties, electoral district associations, candidates, nomination contestants, leadership contestants and third parties
- Supporting the independent commissions responsible for adjusting the boundaries of federal electoral districts every ten years
- Reporting to Parliament on the administration of elections and referendums
I worked as a Deputy Returning Officer for a Provincial Election once, it was a model of transparency and efficiency.
All the ballots in Canada are paper ballots and are counted by hand with every ballot shown to everyone in the group (including scrutineers from all the candidates if they choose to send one) before it is added to the official tally.
An Example Canadian Ballot
I was the one who did the counting so I'd look at the ballot, then hold it up for all to see and say "This ballot is for John Smith" or whoever it was "Does everyone agree?" Of course everyone did because it was blindingly obvious, but it was open and transparent.
I've never had a lineup when voting, but I live in a city of about 400,000. Of course we do have big cities too like Toronto at 2.6 Million and we don't have problems there either. Might be longer lines, I don't know but I've never heard of people waiting for hours to vote here. I have heard about polls being left open a little longer but I think that's more because of the idiots who wait until the last minute. The more people in a place the more volunteers and polling places are available naturally.
After the ballots are counted and the results are phoned in to the Returning office I then collected up my ballot box and its contents and returned them to the Returning office where they stay until they're sent off for archival or judicial recount. Now of course this opens up the possibility of me stealing them or tampering with them if I was dishonest, but that could be dealt with in a less trusting environment, some sort of police escort or something.
I've never done absentee voting before, but I was with my dad when he did it once. It was blindingly easy. I talked to one of the volunteers at the Liberal candidate's office I worked in and he had someone from the Election agency (can't remember if it was Federal or Provincial) come out and bring the package with him. He showed my dad how to vote and then helped him do so, then he put the pack into a sealed envelope and took it with him back to the returning office. Once again that'd be open for fraud in a less trusting society, but I could have taken it back for him or we could have mailed it return-receipt if we wanted to. In Canada we don't have to write our signature on absentee ballots, I think that it's terrible you guys have to! Isn't it supposed to be a secret ballot?
Now, from what I understand there are a lot more things to vote on in a U.S. election: President, Congress, State, Ballot Measures, etc. But there's no reason it couldn't be similar there, more ballots or perhaps a bigger ballot.
I think the biggest problems for you guys are that each individual state runs their own election and that those elections are up to partisan individuals who have something to gain by trying to rig the election. The same thing with Gerrymandering. It's a huge problem for you because from what I understand it's set in the constitution that way, and you know state legislatures aren't going to vote to ratify an amendment. I personally think your guys' constitution is wayyyyyyy too hard to amend. But that's my own personal opinion.
I may not like who won our last Federal or Provincial elections, but I have no doubt about the integrity of the voting process and that's an important thing for a democracy. I hope someday soon you all will have that same faith. Then the Republicans will have to come back closer to the center or be wiped out.
One thing I wish we had here that you guys do have though is those cool "I voted" stickers. :D
If you have any questions about how voting works in Canada feel free to post them in the comments for the low low price of one rec ;) and I'll answer them when I can. If I don't know the answer I'll research it and get back to you.
