Election Day Snafu

Election Day: Monday September 20, 2021. Yes, a somewhat unnecessary one, but nevertheless here it was. I went down to my polling station around lunchtime to vote.

“You already voted at the advance poll,” the woman at the polling booth said to me when she went down the list to find my name.

“But I did not!” I replied.

She said she would have to make a call. No answer. In the meantime, other voters were streaming in. I was asked to wait outside in the other room. She came out about fifteen minutes later to say she still hadn’t heard back. I gave her my phone number and asked her to call me when she had more information.

I returned to my desk at home but could not focus. My insides churned at the thought that I would be denied my right to vote by some administrative error. I needed to vote! I had never not voted in an election in which I was eligible to vote. 

An hour later she called back. She told me I would have to fill in a bunch of legally-binding documents stating I had not previously voted. The punishment for making an illegal declaration would be a hefty fine or imprisonment. She said she had to inform me about this but if I wanted to clarify further I should call Elections Canada at the number on their website. I did. 

After being passed from agent to supervisor to special department and being put on hold, I hung up. I then called my local elections office which is where I should have started in the first place. The number was right there on my voter card. The woman was very kind and helpful, explaining that each voter was assigned a sequence number and in all likelihood a sequence number had been reversed, causing my name to have been crossed off the list as having already voted. She said I would need to sign a Voting Status Certificate stating that I had not already voted and yes the consequences of making an illegal declaration could be a fine or imprisonment.

Armed with this information, I returned to the polling booth (fortunately right in my condo building). I relayed what had been said to me, handed over my ID  and asked for the Voting Status Certificate.  The woman in charge there (a different one now) pushed across a pad to the young man next to her and asked him to fill it out.

“Which option do I need to check off?” he asked her. 

“What are the options? “ I inquired. There were three listed. I wanted to make sure that if I was going to sign such a serious declaration, it was filled out correctly.

He duly checked off the option stating “Voter's name was already crossed off at the advance poll”.

At the bottom of the form, he paused and asked his supervisor, ”What day is it today? September 21st?”

“September 20th!” we both exclaimed in unison.

All through this I remained calm, cheerful and composed. I wanted to get that ballot in my hand. And I did. I marked my X. Into the ballot box it went. Civic duty done.

Home on the couch hours later, bowl of popcorn by my side, watching the results trickle in, my eyes grew heavy. I could not stay awake.

The couch where much popcorn gets consumed

It is my habit every morning to write in my journal before checking phone or any news, before being bombarded with outside distractions. But this morning I could not resist. I peeked. Phew!

Was it worth it to make sure I got in my vote? My candidate won her seat in my riding anyway and would have without my vote. Did my vote matter? Yes, I believe it did. Every vote matters. It is part of living in a democracy and having the right to have your say. I take that seriously and it somehow ties back in a way to my previous post of “Where is Home?”

It is our duty to do our duty.