Want to vote in the April 28 federal election but have neither the time nor the patience to wait in line at a polling booth on election day? Can’t make it to an advance poll? Plan to be out of the country for the rest of the month? Do not fear. You can vote between now and April 22 at a time of your convenience at an Elections Canada office using a special blank form.
Last week, days before the official list of candidates in Stormont-Dundas-Glengarry was confirmed May 7, people began using special blank write-in ballots to exercise their franchise at the Elections Canada office at the Dev Centre.
With a special ballot, you can vote by mail or in person at any Elections Canada office.
Once you have your special ballot, write the first and last name of your chosen candidate on the ballot. You do not have to write the name of the political party, but if you do, your vote will still be counted as long as you also write the name of the candidate you’re voting for. If you write only the name of a political party, your vote won’t be counted. You then place it in an envelope which can be mailed to Elections Canada or dropped in a ballot box at an Elections Canada office.
Another reason you have to love this country is the incredible effort made by Elections Canada, a non-partisan agency, to facilitate voting for all eligible electors, regardless of where you live. For example, Canadians who will be 18 years of age or older on polling day and who are in a correctional institution or a federal penitentiary in Canada may vote by special ballot at stations set up in those institutions.
Meanwhile, in the outside world, the fact some eager electors have already cast their votes, even before the ballots have been printed, indicate that for some, pitches made on the campaign trail do not matter or that their selections will not be affected by events that will occur over the next 19 days.
Or, maybe like a lot of us, they just want to scratch one thing off their full “Things To Do” list and start planning our gardens, once the blizzards have subsided.
Our lives will indeed be slightly less uncertain once the federal election has come and gone.
In the meantime, electors who have yet to cast ballots are obliged to remain informed and vigilant. For starters, make sure you are a registered voter. This process takes about a minute; go to electionscanada.ca and enter your information.
And, avoid crazy stuff on “social” media as if it was the plague or COVID-19.
The bad actors are getting better at fooling the unsuspecting.
Plus, a lack of reliable news in many social media spaces creates a void, stresses the Canadian Digital Media Research Network CDMRN.
“Since Meta’s news ban in August 2023, Canadians cannot see content posted by news organizations on Facebook and Instagram. An algorithmic and audience shift on X has also meant that news content that includes additional details as links tends to perform poorly and not be widely seen. This news vacuum invites unverified information and makes fact-checking more difficult,” the CDMRN cautions.
The CDMRN “is a pioneering initiative committed to fortifying and fostering resilience within Canada’s unique information ecosystem. Our mission is to understand the dynamics of information production, dissemination, and consumption across digital media with the goal of empowering Canadians to navigate the complexities of the modern digital age.”
It administers The Digital Threat Tipline (www.cdmrn.ca/digital-threat-tipline), where anyone can report misleading information or media content that could negatively impact democracy in Canada. The volume of complaints about disinformation is huge; in one week it received 70 submissions, with two-thirds involving posts on Meta and X platforms.
So, as we slowly trudge toward Election Day, be wary of the liars and keep those elbows up.
Let us know what you think at rmahoney@seawaynews.media
