Would it have been a bad thing for all the special university polls to have taken place?

For the sake of accuracy, I felt it best to update my blog-post regarding the 700 votes at the U of G.

The thing about twitter is, one can follow a story as it is evolving. It can be exciting and allows one to feel part of the process, a part of history unfolding before our very eyes, such as how Facebook and Twitter allowed us Lilly-white westerners to feel apart of the Egyptian Revolution. 

As an aside here, the Egyptians were revolting against as regime that was trying to suppress their right to vote much as the Con Regime was trying to suppress the Guelph student's right to vote.

But because Twitter is a collection of professional journalists,  along with people from all walks of life, it can sometimes be difficult to separate fact from theory and opinion. One of the "professional" theories yesterday was that the special polls were considered as not legitimate because of students registering and voting at the same time.  The thought process being, "what the hell is the Cons problem with this special poll"?

As it turns out, the special poll was in fact sanctioned by the Local Elections Canada Returning officer. A measure that was hoped (and quite accurately so) would encourage students to become involved in the election. It had apparently been done at Guelph before. The purpose being to accommodate students who would no longer be at school when election day rolls around on May 2nd.

Special polls are allowed by Elections Canada to accommodate various groups, such as seniors in nursing homes or aboriginals in isolated communities so that they may be able to vote. With this spirit in mind, U of G was allowed a special polling station. In fact, more than 20 universities across the country have arranged for the same kind of "vote mob" to take place. 

What a wonderful way to involve students in the democratic process. Make voting a social, festive affair. A collective right of passage, a celebration of their democratic right to participate in our government. Someone should have thought of this long ago. Make voting a "celebration" across the country. Make it a holiday, a joyous occasion.

But alas, despite all the pre-planning that had occurred regarding the Guelph polling station and the sanctioning by the local Returns Officer and it having been overseen by EC monitors, it was still not officially allowable under EC rules. The reason being apparently, there was not "enough" advance planning, like pre election. Though how one can plan for a special poll when one doesn't know the exact date the Government is going to fall is beyond me. Also, all parties have to be notified in advance of the special polling location, something which did not occur.

So it seems the rules around these special polling stations is not widely known. As I said, at least 20 other University "Vote Mobs" have been arranged across the country. I would imagine those Returns Officers weren't aware of the rules either. And as I said, this is not the first time Guelph has had a special polling station to accommodate their students. 

So chances are, if the Cons had not been frightened by the concept of students actually voting and tried to commit the federal offense of stealing an elections Canada ballot box, all these special polls would likely have occured and all the votes would have counted. Would that have been a bad thing?

One of the alleged Con concerns was that there was partisan material present at the polling station. However it appears that U of G was very careful to follow Elections Canada guide lines around the provision of political material at a polling station. As I understand it, there was none present on site or within 100 meters of the site. But eventually, all political literature was removed entirely from the campus except for the presence of signs, one for each of the parties, at a location far distant from the polling station.

Apparently, an allegation has been made that either the hit man, Michael Sona, (the guy who tried to intimidate students and abscond with the ballot box), or the Con candidate himself was seen filming U of G students in a line up as they waited to vote. If true, this is yet another federal offense. But somehow, I doubt that anyone is going to be serving any time like you or I would for the commission of these heinous federal offenses. This is after all, the Harper Cons we're talking about. They are above the law!