Election 2021: I mailed this vote in
It's election time once again, but in the pandemic era nothing can be normal, so like a million or so other Canadians, I decided to cast my ballot by mail for the 2021 vote.
If this turns out anything like the last U.S. federal election, voting by mail may prove to be a bit of a political football. Lucky for me, I've been through the process so I now know it first-hand.
Just what does voting by mail look like in the 2021 Canadian federal election?
A couple weeks or so before the vote, I had to fill out a short form online. In my case this involved sending a quick snap of my driver's licence off to Elections Canada, via their website. Days later, an envelope containing other envelopes arrived in the mail. These are the contents of that envelope:
Along with the instructions sheet at left (en français on the reverse), there are three envelopes, designated envelopes A, B and C, and an unremarkable slip of paper. Yes, that slip is my ballot.
In my case my regular voter information card still came in the mail, arriving soon after this package. Perhaps it wouldn't have been sent if I had registered to vote online sooner - I really have no idea.
The shock for me was the simplicity of the mail-in ballot. Rather than mark the usual X next to the name of the candidate of my choosing, I could write anything. While this could make spoiling one's ballot far more amusing than usual, I intended to vote for a real person and I found the lack of restraints a source of stress.
On what the documentation calls Envelope B, or the "outer envelope," was my name, the number of my district and a number specific to the envelope, all handwritten in pen. Worried about spelling my candidate's name correctly, I googled my riding number. Sure enough, Elections Canada has a webpage for each riding with the names of all registered candidates, and you can view it in a printer-friendly mode. I recommend having this list handy to transcribe the candidate's name verbatim, and also the official feeling of the page made me feel a little more like I was at the polls and a little less like I was in my living room.
Unfortunately I had to view the Elections Canada page on my desktop PC. The page would not load on my new phone, although I should add this phone is obscure and was released just days before I filled out my ballot.
I carefully wrote down the name of the candidate under "I vote for" on the slip, nervous about spelling someone else's name and the legibility of my childish handwriting.
Of note, the instructions told me that should two candidates in one riding have the same name, I should add the name of the relevant party or write the word "Independent." This is, unsurprisingly, not a concern in my riding.
I put the ballot into Envelope A, or the "inner envelope." This one has adhesive on the flap - the other two I had to lick. I appreciated getting a break on at least one of them.
I placed Envelope A into Envelope B. The front and rear flap both told me I absolutely must sign and date this envelope, which I did. It was at this point that I noticed the envelope once said it would be bound for counting in Ottawa, but the city's name is crossed out in permanent marker. (They didn't bother to do this with the French side. Please, nobody call the language police about this.)
I placed Envelope B into Envelope C, or the "return envelope." This is the regular mailing envelope that will be handled by the folks at Canada Post. The goodies inside are presumably only for elections officials. I wrote my return address on it, as you do.
The only thing left to do is to mail my envelope of envelopes. I took it directly to the box outside the Etobicoke distribution centre, because democracy is simply too important to take a chance on any other mailbox, and also the dog needed to go for a walk.
Somewhat anticlimactically, I now have to wait days to see how much or how little influence on my riding's representation my mail-in write-in slip had. The Canadian Press says these mailed ballots won't even be counted until the morning after the election.
So, dear reader, when you're lined up in some church gymnasium on election day, just know there is another way - even if it's not quite a better way.
|
CONTACT
Feel free to email me at JUSTIN@MEETJUSTINHOLMES.COM or use the quick form below:
|
|
|
