CanPol: Race to the Finish

[joncha]

They've stumbled a bit in the last couple of days, but yes. If it is possible to cruise to a minority victory, that is.

[notyoueither]

Screw the fascists! Bring some teriyaki sauce and chow down!

http://www.ctv.ca//servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20060121/eating_ballot_060122/20060122?s_name=election2006&no_ads=

Spoiling ballot is a crime, warns Elections Canada
Updated Sun. Jan. 22 2006 2:53 PM ET

Canadian Press

OTTAWA — Disaffected and angry voters, take note: spoiling your ballot is a crime.

There's no legal way to express disgust for politics via the ballot, whether by scribbling on it, writing obscenities, or drawing pictures.

According to section 167(2)(a) of the Canada Elections Act, "no person shall wilfully alter, deface or destroy a ballot." Conviction could bring a $500 fine or three months in jail -- even though the chances of getting caught are effectively nil.

Nil, that is, unless the spoiler wants to make a show of the protest -- by eating the ballot, for example.

Members of the Edible Ballot Society tried that method in the 2000 election but the trend faded after a number of prosecutions.

Spoiling a ballot in privacy is not much of a protest, suggests Elections Canada spokesman Dana Doiron.

"Nobody gets real satisfaction out of it because nobody knows about it," Doiron said.

"It can't be attributed to the individual because of the secrecy. It just goes unrecorded, unnanounced, unknown. So you've wasted your time going to the poll in the first place."

Chief Electoral Officer Jean-Pierre Kingsley has mused about introducing some legal method for registering a protest vote, but there have been no concrete proposals.

So what's a disgusted voter to do?

"There are laws against disrupting the conduct of the polls, so you can't go there and shout and scream and stamp your feet," said Doiron.

The best strategy is to become a candidate, or try to find a candidate worthy of support, he said.

But many Canadians are taking the lazy way out and staying home. Rates of voter participation have been declining with every election in recent history.

Elections Canada has tried to counter declining turnout by making it easier for people to vote, both through advance polls and through special mail-in ballots.

In this election it has been easier to vote than ever before, said Doiron. Those wishing to do so could cast a ballot almost any day since the writ was dropped, even before the campaign got seriously under way.

That raises another question: what if a voter changes his or her mind before election day?

Too bad, Doiron said. You can only vote once.

Those convinced that political ethics have never been worse might recall that as recently as the 1950s, politicans were known to offer voters chocolates, bottles of rum or nylon stockings.

That isn't heard of now, says Doiron.

"There were some things that society found semi-acceptable that just are not acceptable now. It's like lighting up a cigarette in a baby's room, it's just not considered any more."

Nor has the result of any Canadian election been disputed, a contrast with recent history in the United States.

In U.S. federal elections, every state has a different voting system; in this country Elections Canada applies the same rules across the country and a single missing ballot must be explained.

That's why you can't eat the ballot.

[Peter Triggs]

Chief Electoral Officer Jean-Pierre Kingsley has mused about introducing some legal method for registering a protest vote, but there have been no concrete proposals.

The obvious thing is to let people vote for something like "None of the above'. But what would they do if the majority of voters chose this option?

[Asher]

Don Cherry should run as an independent.

[notyoueither]

Originally posted by Peter Triggs

The obvious thing is to let people vote for something like "None of the above'. But what would they do if the majority of voters chose this option?

**** their pants.

There is a reason our ballots are solid black with only the white boxes to check. This is Canada. No rocking the boat please.

**** them! Write in:
none
of
the
above
in the white spaces they provide for the cattle to register their votes.

[notyoueither]

Just vote! They do count the spoiled ones, and they live in fear of the day when the spoiled ballots make up a signifcant percentage. Then they could no longer ignore the people telling them to get stuffed on how the system works currently.

[Asher]

Yeah, I'm sure all of the beancounters who count lots of spoiled ballots will cause actually good candidates to enter politics and fix this problem of ours.

[notyoueither]

The powers that be, the people who win elections, will pay attention to trends in opinion. The opinions they pay most heed to are those expressed on ballots.

[OzzyKP]

How does the system work in Canada, if the Conservatives win with a minority, do they need to coalition with other parties to make a majority? And if so who since all the other parties seem liberal?

[Tingkai]

Re: Seat Prediction

Originally posted by Flinx
Here are my seat predictions based solely on polling conducted by The Strategic Counsel between Jan 19 and Jan 22 (n=2500) for CTV and The Globe & Mail

Interesting, only 50% of Western Canadians think a Conservative majority would be good for the country.

[Flubber]

Originally posted by OzzyKP
How does the system work in Canada, if the Conservatives win with a minority, do they need to coalition with other parties to make a majority? And if so who since all the other parties seem liberal?

Sort of-- They can govern for so long as they have the "confidence" of the House. This means that they can't afford to lose a vote on a MAJOR issue. In the meantime they can try to cobble together a majority on an issue by issue basis

Their best chance of suport may actually come from the bloc. While generally a lefty party, it is the home for pretty much all the separatists so they might harbour a few righties.

Basically a formal coalition seems unlikely but the reality is that no one would want to be seen to be obstructionist since the theory is they would get punished by the voters if we get sent to polls yet again--

It would seem pointless to force an election if the result was likely to be the same.

[Tingkai]

Is it true that Harper is writing a book about the history of hockey?

[notyoueither]

He is said to be a Leafs fan, so history is all he'd be interested in.

[Tingkai]

A Leafs fan in Calgary? Wouldn't that automatically get him tarred and feathered?

[notyoueither]

He hides it. He's pretty good at it.