Friends from elsewhere, here is my experience voting in a Canadian election. We have a parliamentary system, with first-past-the-post, one representative per riding (electoral district). Current election is for our provincial legislature. Elections are run by a non-partisan govt agency. (1/) - ThreadSky

pbarmby.bsky.social • 11 hours ago

Friends from elsewhere, here is my experience voting in a Canadian election. We have a parliamentary system, with first-past-the-post, one representative per riding (electoral district).
Current election is for our provincial legislature. Elections are run by a non-partisan govt agency. (1/)

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downix.bsky.social•11 hours ago

FPTP is really a bad system, but with the rest of what Canada has set up, the damage it can do the electorate is somewhat mitigated.

stephengm.bsky.social•11 hours ago

Well... Canadian federalism does mitigate things to a degree but with FPTP any party that gets around 40% of the voters is going to win a majority in Parliament and have 100% of the power. It's not ideal.

downix.bsky.social•11 hours ago

I am personally a fan of STV elections, but convincing people is hard because, well, math.

stephengm.bsky.social•11 hours ago

Yes, any electoral reform proposal faces an uphill battle because it's wonkish and hard to explain!

I like ranked ballots for municipal elections but would prefer MMP provincially and federally (although at this point, honestly, I'll take what I can get!)

pbarmby.bsky.social•11 hours ago

We had a non-FPTP system (I forget which one) for municipal elections in London for a while, until the province nixed it.

causerie.bsky.social•11 hours ago

RIP the short-lived ranked ballot, aka ranked choice voting

stephengm.bsky.social•11 hours ago

We never got ranked ballots even once in Toronto because Council got cold feet. I'm still mad about it.

planetneish.bsky.social•4 hours ago

I have voted in both US and Canadian elections (dual citizen). I was gobsmacked by the length of the US ballot, and the sorts of questions they would ask (e.g., confirm a judge I’ve never heard of??). I literally had to bring a “cheat sheet” with me to the polls so I would remember everything.

pbarmby.bsky.social•11 hours ago

I arrive at the riding’s electoral office to vote in the advance poll. No lineup, no metal detectors, just a non-descript office building. I have already registered and should be on the voters’ list. I hand my driver’s license to a person at a desk, she types something into a laptop. (2/)

pbarmby.bsky.social•11 hours ago

She hands me sign-in sheet with a ‘voter id number’ next to an empty line. I sign it and affirm that I am a Canadian citizen over 18 and that I haven’t already voted. She hands me a ballot, a standard sheet of letter paper that is black with white text. (3/)

pbarmby.bsky.social•11 hours ago

Candidates are listed with their parties (I forget the order); there’s a while circle beside each name. I go behind a cardboard screen, mark the ballot with a Sharpie, and slide it into the cardboard cover that the election worker also gave me. (4/)

pbarmby.bsky.social•11 hours ago

I walk the covered ballot over to where another worker sits behind a big cardboard box that has a scanner fitted to the top. After a few tries he gets the ballot run through the scanner (the cover is so he can’t see the ballot) and I hear it fall into the box. All done (5/)

cindyphanauthor.com•11 hours ago

Can confirm, though my ballot worker got mine through the scanner on the first try 😄

There was a bit of a line up where I was, but it moved quickly. All in all took under 10 minutes.

pbarmby.bsky.social•11 hours ago

I don’t know how this would have been different if I hadn’t had photo ID (I’m pretty sure there is a procedure). If it hadn’t been the advance poll, I wouldn’t have had to sign the sheet; instead my name would have been crossed off a paper list together with the laptop-typing. (6/)

pbarmby.bsky.social•11 hours ago

For most Canadian elections we are only voting for one thing at once. Most common exception is municipal elections where you might vote for mayor, councillor, etc at same time.

Political parties are not involved in the actual voting but representatives are present when votes are counted. (7/7)

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