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May 2, 2011

How to Vote In Canada

Walk to your neighbourhood polling place.
Receive folded postcard-size piece of paper with each candidate's name and party on it.
Stand behind what looks like a modified, on-its-side cardboard box
and use a stubby pencil
to make an X in the circle next to your candidate of choice.
Refold the ballot and hand it back to the voting attendant, who will tear off the stub (which, like the ballot, has a number on it, similar to a raffle ticket).
She will place the stub in a sealable plastic sandwich bag and hand the still-folded ballot back to you. Place the folded ballot in cardboard ballot box.
Walk home, secure in the knowledge that your vote
will not be switched electronically to another less-desirable candidate.
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11 comments:

  1. laura kMay 2, 2011 at 8:31 AM

    Cool, eh?

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownMay 2, 2011 at 9:34 AM

    ...because, um, cardboard boxes and plastic sandwich bags are impervious to fraud?

    ReplyDelete
  3. wilsonMay 2, 2011 at 10:45 AM

    It's not that cardboard boxes and plastic sandwich bags are impervious to fraud, it's just that a lot less can go wrong with such a simple process... wait I didn't get a plastic sandwich bag!!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Michael HollowayMay 2, 2011 at 11:46 AM

    I was relieved to see the good old cardboard box this morning.

    In the Toronto Civic Elections that resulted in a landslide for a neo-con candidate in October 2010, voters penciled in the circle on a paper ballot - but then instead of the plastic baggie thing the returning officer placed my paper ballot in a scanner which tallied my vote.

    When I worked as a returning officer in 2003 we counted the paper ballots by hand with a scurtineer from each party watching (there were 5 parties represented there). No need for that with the new civic election scanner system.

    I don't thrust the electronic counter there's too much power in the hands of a small group of programmers or administrators - the more people involved in the counting the better. And, as you referenced above Allan - Princeton University's Center for Information Technology Policy has shown how easy electronic tally systems are to manipulate (posted 4 years ago): http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8793715638869146272#

    ReplyDelete
  5. allanMay 2, 2011 at 11:52 AM

    Computer programmer Clinton Eugene Curtis testifies under oath to the U.S. House Judiciary Members in Ohio. He says he was hired by Congressman Tom Feeney in October 2000 to build a prototype software package that would secretly rig an election. Amazing footage.

    ReplyDelete
  6. allanMay 2, 2011 at 11:54 AM

    That video above was from December 13, 2004. This is related.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Michael HollowayMay 2, 2011 at 2:44 PM

    Great link Allan. I didn't know there was actually evidence like that out there.

    Ohio should have subpoenaed the people named, or if they couldn't because it was out of their jurisdiction, someone in Congress should have called for an investigation.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Michael HollowayMay 2, 2011 at 2:58 PM

    I was surfing the 2000 and 3004 issue and found "The Onion". Their satire of network morning shows is especially Funny.

    "..some US citizens were able to escape to Canada before the worst of the Bush Presidency hit..."

    From Today Now! "Bush Tours America To Survey Damage Caused By His Presidency".

    ReplyDelete
  9. AmyMay 2, 2011 at 3:20 PM

    Our system is really not much different. We also have to fill in a circle with a pen on a paper ballot. We then enter the ballot into a box that we roll ourselves through the scanner. Now granted, the scanner may malfunction, but I still feel a whole lot better than I used to with the voting machines in NY.

    ReplyDelete
  10. timMay 2, 2011 at 4:09 PM

    FUCKIN EH!!!

    ReplyDelete
  11. timMay 2, 2011 at 4:11 PM

    also, that last pic is wicked.

    ReplyDelete