And now it's the basis of a lawsuit

You may recall that a few months ago I brought up the issue that in Newfoundland and Labrador voters were able to cast special ballots before an election had been called.

Though I didn't hear anything about this issue from any of the parties during the election, it seems that a close election result in Burin-Placentia West has lead to a lawsuit being filed on this very issue. The NDP candidate is claiming that these provisions violated the Charter.

While I have no idea how this lawsuit will play out, I am certain that this is an important issue.

Hopefully a better process will be in place before the next provincial election.

Let's hope she's alone on this one

As some of you may know, on Tuesday elections for the House of Assembly were held in Newfoundland. As you may also know, the House of Assembly is Newfoundland's provincial legislature. Another way of getting at the issue is that Tuesday's election dealt with selecting legislators, or people to sit in the House of Assembly and conduct the work of the legislature.

So, given this back story, I thought it was a little funny to see that newly re-elected MHA Kathy Dunderdale has been quoted by CBC when talking about the re-opening of the legislature as saying "I don't find it a place for a very healthy, open, constructive debate to start with." All of this was to justify her decision not to open the House again until the spring.

If she isn't interested in doing this part of her job can we expect her to be declining the approximately $100 000 pay cheque that accompanies the post?

Election Day in Newfoundland

Wow, I am not even in Newfoundland (though I am still a resident) and I am incredibly excited about tonight's election outcomes. I am even a little more excited now that a CBC reporter has just confirmed that CBC's TV coverage will be streaming live.

Oh man, I can't wait to watch the coverage and see how things turn out.

(I wonder how many more of these non-posts/election anticipation posts I will post before the polls close tonight?)

Only one more day to go

After a short three week campaign period the Newfoundland election is almost upon us. While the polls have regularly shown the PC party to be in the lead (and I too think that they are likely to win), I am really curious to see the particularities of the results. Most importantly, I am curious to see how the two opposition parties do.

The recent polls seem to be suggesting that the NDP have seen an increase in support while Liberal support has fallen off. Of course how these changes all play out will be interesting to watch.

I am particularly curious to see if the Liberals have any luck in picking off a few of the rural seats or if the NDP are able to pick up a few more St. John's seats.

Anyway, I guess I will just have to wait until tomorrow to see how everything plays.

Special Ballot Application Update 4

Well, after a little delay I was finally able to get my special ballot in the mail today. If all goes well my complete ballot should arrive in St. John's on Monday or Tuesday (and this is with the next day delivery option).

While it is a bummer that I had to spend $10 to send my ballot I am glad that it will arrive in time to be counted. There is nothing more frustrating than to have a special ballot that you know won't be counted.

One thing that I didn't mention about the Newfoundland special ballot process is that the ballot comes with a return postage paid envelope. This is something that I think should be included with federal special ballots. Though as far as I can tell this is the one aspect of the Newfoundland special ballot process that is better than the federal process. Sadly neither agency provides the voter with a list of approved candidates or voting options. Apparently you are just supposed to know who is running in your district.

Hopefully this will be the last of my special ballot updates.

Special Ballot Application Update 3

I had hoped to have my special ballot in the mail by this morning. Unfortunately, I failed to give it to Jeannette to drop off at the post office. Because it is due on Wednesday and I don't trust Canada Post to be the least bit prompt with regular mail I will probably have to send my ballot by Xpresspost tomorrow. Bummer.

The upside of all of this is that I should have a ballot that will actually be counted. I am sure that some of my past absentee ballots have not been so fortunate.

Special Ballot Application Update 2

Well, when I went out to check my mail this evening I found that my special ballot had arrived. This is actually a fair bit earlier than I expected it to arrive. It seems that the factor that I wasn't accounting for was that Elections Newfoundland and Labrador sent my ballot via Xpresspost - something that I may have to do to return it before the deadline.

Of course, my special ballot did not come with a list of candidates or parties that have candidates and as the Elections Newfoundland and Labrador website doesn't provide such information I guess I will have to rely on the party websites to know who are the candidates in my district.

Anyway, I am just glad to have the ballot with enough time to submit it before the October 5 deadline.

Special Ballot Application Update 1

I still don't have my special ballot.

Things are getting tight if I hope to be able to return my ballot to Elections Newfoundland and Labrador by October 5.

I wonder if I will end up having to use an Xpresspost like service to return my ballot?

Do they even care about informed choices?

For a few weeks I have been quite bothered by the realities of voting by special ballot in the upcoming Newfoundland elections. Some of the issues that I have mentioned in the past relate to the fact that people are allowed to vote before candidates have even been nominated. Now that I have had a chance to look at the Elections Newfoundland and Labrador website more closely it is clear that two additional issues should be addressed.

One of the first things that I noticed today while looking at the Elections Newfoundland and Labrador Information for Electors pamphlet is that all special ballots must be received by October 5, 2011, or almost a week before the election day. If one factors in the incredibly slow Canada Post service that that many people will use it becomes apparent that those voting by special ballot will hardly even be able to observe the formal campaign period before they need to return their ballot. So just because you won't be around for election day you have the good fortune to not be able to use the second half of the campaign to inform your vote choice.

This is clearly unacceptable. Minimally the proces should be changed so that all votes post marked no later than election day are accepted.

A second issue that I was reminded of by visiting the Elections Newfoundland and Labrador website is that the website does not, at least anywhere obvious, contain a list of approved candidates. My recollection is that a similar problem existed during the past two elections as well.

Is it really that hard to provide this information once it becomes available? Not only are a number of media sources able to provide such information, but Elections Canada provides this information.

These issues (and there are probably others that I am not thinking about) when viewed together don't paint a particularly good picture of the electoral system in Newfoundland. I suspect that if we heard about similar practices in other countries we would feel that their electoral systems were less than adequate. Maybe what is most frustrating about these changes is that they don't really need to exist. Fixing most of these problems would likely be relatively inexpensive and straightforward.

Time to submit my special ballot application

As some of you may know, I am not particularly satisfied with the way the provincial electoral system is currently being run in Newfoundland. I find it particularly problematic that individuals are able to vote before candidates have formally been nominated.

Anyway, as a way of expressing dissatisfaction with this system I decided to not submit my special ballot application until after the election had official started. I just hope that this application now has enough time to work its way through the system.

Another problem with the current electoral system in Newfoundland

A few posts ago I mentioned the seemingly absurd situation in Newfoundland that allows people to vote weeks before the election has even officially been called or candidates are recognized as candidates

A recent news story about one candidate breaking fundraising rules has brought another aspect of this situation to my attention. For over a month voters are voting but candidates are not allowed to raised funds and engage in a full-fledged campaign. This seems a little less than ideal.

Though it is unlikely, one could theoretically lose the election before they are even nominated or allowed to raise a dollar.

This sounds like a great system. It's like buying a lottery ticket after the numbers have been drawn.

This voting before candidates are nominated or officially fully functioning candidates thing has to stop. It just isn't reasonable to allow this type of situation to exist. Not only does it give a huge advantage to the incumbent (particularly if they are a minister), but it creates a situation where there is a huge incentive to break the rules and begin campaigning early.

Why is voting by special ballot so different than voting in person?

Newfoundland is just about to have its second fixed term election. And, like the last one, voting day will be in October, October 11 to be precise.

Of course, in many ways the switch to fixed term elections mean that voting day doesn't quite mean what it used to. It is no longer the case that voting need be confined to the short campaign period after the election has been called until the end of the election.

It seems that it is now possible to vote as early as August 22, if you want to vote by special ballot. This change amazes me because it means that it is now possible to vote before the election has been called or nominations are closed. People are being allowed to vote before they can hope to know the potential candidates for among whom they might be choosing.

Oh, and if you are voting by special ballot and you actually want to wait long enough to see a list of confirmed candidates (nominations close on October 1) you have about four days to make your decision as your ballot needs to be received by October 5. The reality for those of us forced to rely on an unreliable postal system to submit our ballots is that we will have to vote before we can see a list of confirmed candidates.

Could they not, at a later date, just add the special ballots to the votes cast on election day? Would this be so hard? Would it delay the ability to confirm the results by more than a few days?

It is frustrating that even with all of this lead up and the ability to start casting special ballots more than a month before the election that the system still isn't particularly attuned to the needs of individuals voting by special ballot.

Not that my opinions count for much, but if I had the ability to change things I wouldn't hesitate to make the following changes:

1) Increase the time between the final confirmation of candidates and election day. It might make sense to have this date coincide with the commencement of media advertising.

2) Disallow voting before the election writs have been issued and candidate nominations confirmed.

3) Accept special ballots that are post-marked or delivered in-person on or before election day.

4) Work with the post office to facilitate the prompt collection and delivery of mail ballots.

5) Eliminate the deadline to apply for a special ballot.

Generally, at least to me, it seems that we should making it easier to cast informed votes would be a move in the right direction.