It’s Election Season here in Portugal as well as in Canada, which means even more talking heads than usual on all media fronts. But at least it will be all over soon in Portugal (October 4) and there’s an end to Political Open Season in Canada (October 19), unlike the very long, drawn out circus election going on in the USA. (Seriously, it’s a sport there… an extremely expensive one. Imagine the better uses for all that campaign money!)
Last month I wrote about the problematic eligibility requirements for Canadians voting abroad:
Canadian Expat Problems: Voting (August 13, 2015)
I mentioned about my specific issue (Box 10), which I still take issue with but as you can see, I dealt with it to the satisfaction of Elections Canada in order to receive the voting kit, which arrived today. Inside the kit:
- voting instructions (information both sides, one column in English and the other in French)
- inner envelope
- outer envelope
- mailing envelope
Yes, three envelopes. The inner envelope is for the ballot only (no other information, including anything mine), the outer envelope is bar-coded with my information so that I can’t vote more than once, and the mailing envelope is what ends up at Elections Canada.
The major difference between voting abroad and voting in Canada besides the extra envelopes and needing to send a scan of my passport to Elections Canada to receive the kit, is the small gray rectangular paper in the middle marked Official Special Ballot Paper. On the back of it is a single dotted line where I’m supposed to write the name of the candidate who gets my vote, instead of the usual list of names which I choose from. Why no list? Because the deadline for candidates is September 28, and the final list is published September 30. Even if Elections Canada sent out all the ballots with the list of names on the first possible day, October 1, which would be a feat (and subject to errors, I imagine), it wouldn’t be enough time for some people to receive the list and get the vote back to Ottawa for the deadline of 6pm on October 19.
Granted, I’m sure most if not all Canadians abroad who vote are keeping track of their possible candidates, anyway, so an up-to-date list isn’t all that necessary. But I wonder how many ballots get spoiled when an election official can’t read someone’s writing…
Anyway, for the benefit of those reading who aren’t Canadian (that would be most of you), I’ll post a list of the parties who have candidates in my electoral district with the link to their official websites:
- Conservative Party of Canada
- Marxist-Leninist Party of Canada (Communist Party)
- New Democratic Party
- Marijuana Party
- Green Party of Canada
- Independent (here’s the list of independents in the 2011 election)
- Liberal Party of Canada
If you’re an eligible (*wince*) expat Canadian, hurry up and get your voting kit! You can apply for it at the Elections Canada website. Mine took less than a week to arrive. Canadians in Lisbon can drop off their ballot at the Canadian Embassy, but I’m 300km away so I’m mailing mine directly to Ottawa.
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