Broken lists.

I agree that there are problems with the voters lists. Having voted in the same riding in the previous election, and having checked the box every time on my tax return, come the last election it turned out that I wasn't on the list. As a political junkie, I made sure to vote, but no doubt some people wouldn't have bothered.

Perhaps what is needed is not just an integration of voters lists, but a proper door-to-door enumeration, as used to be done? Carry one out every five years, in conjunction with the census, and then share the information with the relevant jurisdictions?

Door to door enumeration

Should never have been stopped. Check the statistics...along with the fact that enumerators are in the best position to check ID (at the voter's residence) to eliminate imaginary problems with fraud.

Corruption at all levels of society

Godamighty, it seems as if the Welcome Mat is carefully laid out for every possible form of corruption in B.C.

I almost didn't vote...

I went to the poll here in Parkdale-High Park (where Gerrard Kennedy beat incumbent NDP candidate Peggy Nash) with my new passport thinking that it was all the identification I needed. After all, I was also bringing along the voter card mailed to me by the government so what more proof of residence did they require than that I had received their voting card??

Unfortunately, after waiting in an unusually long line-up I was told I had to bring in some piece of ID with my address or some other documentation listing that I did in fact live where my voting card said I did :/

I had gone to vote after work so the polls were near closing but I did in fact return - much to my chagrin.

I also had friends with the same issue (many students move around frequently so they don't always have ID with their most current address) so I can believe it when this report cites the number above. I'm just glad its finally getting some attention so many months down the road...

I think that was brought in

I think that was brought in on purpose and not to make sure everyone was 'legal' but ulterior motives were involved.

residenbcy

Somebody can explain to me please, how a homeless person provides proof of residency?

rules discourage rural voters

Where I live in small town BC, the post office will only accept mail addressed with P.O. box numbers, not street addresses, so lots of people only get mail with a POB, which won't pass at the polls. I agree, bring back the enumerators.

reallife

"Does anyone really believe the law was changed to keep homeless people from voting?"

Yes

Are you one of those that thinks aliens are arriving in Canada from a huge mothership and voting in our elections so as to elect candidates that won't ask questions about UFO's and therefore we need to show oodles of ID so as to thwart their master plan?

Update please

Would it be so terrible if some people got a chance to make a bit of extra money by going door to door enumerating?

Seems to me that our governemnts are doing their best to not provide any jobs at any level.

Another item is that once on a voters list, people never seem to get removed even if they moved out of the provinces ages ago.

Voter ID Conspiracy

Funny how people who actually care about voting, are committed to voting, are realistic about being informed, don't have any problems, or if they do, they adapt and overcome those problems. They must think it is important enough to do in a methodical way.
"The world is run by those who show up."

VOTER FRAUD

Some months ago I came across a study done by American political scientists on the subject of election night voter fraud. The idea is that on election night, parties will hold back some results until the rest of the result in a district is known, and then magically supply just enough votes to win by a very small margin.

They found using statistical methods that both the US and Canada had significant amounts of election night voter fraud.

So, any idea that there is absolutely no need for controls on who votes is one I don't agree with.

VOTING RULES

THE MORE I READ THE ANGRIER I GET, BECAUSE I REMEMBER THE STUPID HASSLE I WAS SUBJECTED TO.
#1) I SHOWED UP AT THE POLLS, WHICH WERE NOT IN THEIR FAMILIAR PLACE AND I HAD TO ASK SOME PEOPLE FOR DIRECTIONS.
#2) I WAS AWARE OF THE ID REQUIREMENT AND PRODUCED MY BC DRIVER'S LICENCE, WHICH HAD MY PICTURE, MY ADDRESS AND MY SIGNATURE ON IT, BUT I WAS REFUSED A BALLOT!
#3) THEY WANTED A SECOND ID WITH MY ADDRESS AND MY PICTURE ON IT!!!
I ASK YOU: DOES ANYONE HAVE, MUCH LESS CARRY A SECOND SUCH ID???
#4) FUMING AND EXTREMELY ANGRY AT SUCH STUPIDITY BY PEOPLE WHO SHOULD HAVE KNOWN BETTER, I GRABBED THE OFFERED PIECE OF PAPER ON WHICH I HAD TO PUT THE VERY SAME INFORMATION AS WAS SHOWN ON MY FIRST ID AND SIGN IT BEFORE THEY GAVE ME MY BALLOT. NO WONDER, THAT MANY PEOPLE DO NOT BOTHER TO VOTE ANYMORE, BECAUSE THE INCOMPETENCE IS ABSOLUTELY MIND BOGGLING!!!
AND WHAT DO WE GET FOR ALL THIS TROUBLE?
THE PRIVILEDGE TO PAY OVER 300 MILLION DOLLARS FOR NO CHANGE IN THE STATUS QUO!!!
NO WONDER THEY DO NOT TRUST US WITH GUN OWNERSHIP, BECAUSE WE ARE CONFRONTED WITH THE MOST ASININE CROP OF HOMO SAPIENS EVER.

ID Requirements

To give myself some background about the election process, I worked at a fairly large polling station during the last federal election. No one, who was a voter within the poll boundaries, was unable to vote.

Staff at Elections Canada emphasized to their employees that every effort should be made to ensure eligible citizens were able to vote.

Elections Canada requires the following ID:

http://www.elections.ca/home.asp

Proof of identity and residence
If the poll clerk determines that the elector’s name and address appear on the list of electors or that the elector is allowed to vote under section 146, 147, 148 or 149, then, subject to subsection (3), the elector shall provide to the deputy returning officer and the poll clerk the following proof of his or her identity and residence:
(a) one piece of identification issued by a Canadian government, whether federal, provincial or local, or an agency of that government, that contains a photograph of the elector and his or her name and address; or
(b) two pieces of identification authorized by the Chief Electoral Officer each of which establish the elector’s name and at least one of which establishes the elector’s address.

The polling station was busy all day with a huge surge between 5PM and 7PM.

There were people who came to the wrong poll and were redirected to a nearby station. Several of voters who came without adeqate ID were able to vote.

Many of those who came after at the last minute had been called by the candidates representative. The only difficult individuals were a couple of the scrutineers (one conservative and one Liberal).

There maybe ultierior motives of the incumbant government, but none were apparent at the polling station I worked at.

Our very own fiddling

Harper is just pi$$ed because we don't have chads to hang, so he has to find some other way.......

New Voting Rules Disenfranchises Natives

The worst effect of this No Po Box rule is that it automatically disenfranchised 10`s of thousands of Canada`s 1st Nations citizens who live on reservations with no street address system and whose ID`s and mail only has a PO Box number and a towns name and postal code.

This was a Conservative Plan to disenfranchise hundreds of thousands of Canadians who would normally not vote for Harper. This was a plan concocted by Harper`s main adviser Professor Thomas Flanagan, Canada`s own Karl Rove.

All Canadians deserve better! This is discrimination pure and simple. Where are our defenders of the democratic process.

Don't Vote

You can always chose not to vote as I have. I do not consent to be governed by a corrupt first-past-the-post system that has remained virtually unreformed since it's inception and is designed to benefit incumbents. Furthermore, political parties are simply there to divide the people as this quote aplies quite nicely:

By dividing the voters through the political party system, we can get them to expend their energies in fighting over questions of no importance. Thus by discreet action we can secure for ourselves what has been so well planned and so successfully accomplished.'

- USA Banker's Magazine, August 25 1924

No Vote....

....is the same as a vote for Harper, as most who don't vote, wouldn't have voted Conservative, had they voted.

If you want to protest, then vote the Danny Williams ticket: Anyone But Conservative (or Liberal)

Damn it

Can only vote once now.

Too paranoid

I will believe all the conspiracy theories posted here when I see a list previous voters who were prohibited from voting by the new rules. I suspect the homeless are not regular voters. However, I do recognize that Innocent Bystander will have been shut out of an opportunity or two (vote early and often).