Halifax Didn't Want Your Vote

Did you miss voting in the federal and municipal elections last week? Don't worry about it, the government didn't want your vote anyway. Ignoring the fact that voting is a constitutional and chartered right, students slip through the cracks of Canadian and Nova Scotian electoral law. Forget about democracy, the closest you'll get to that this year is casting your ballot in the DSU general elections in March of 2009.

On the day of the federal election I heard more complaints from students than in my entire term as Vice President Education for the DSU. Students were rightly riled about the new identification rules for voting that stop just short of asking for a DNA sample to prove your identity. During the last session of parliament the Harper Government brought forward several legislative changes to the way elections are run in Canada.

Unfortunately, the new regulations don't make any exceptions for highly transient students, many of whom change apartments on a yearly basis, and have difficulty proving their residency due to shared leases and bills that may not necessarily have their name on them. On Election Day, I asked the supervisor at the polling station in the SUB how many students they were forced to turn away. He consulted with his colleagues, and quickly informed me that at least sixty percent of students were being rejected.

On top of stricter ID rules at the polls, the new regulations have eliminated the enumeration (or door-to-door registration) of voters during election time. But, exceptions were made for enumerations to continue in student neighborhoods. In fact, Elections Canada sent student unions across Canada a document promising that every off campus student would be visited at least twice to attempt an enumeration, and that student unions would be consulted before the process began. That was a promise that fell through. Across the country, returning officers gave students the same story - we want to help, but we have limited resources: not enough people, not enough money, not enough time. "Please file a written complaint after the election" we were told.

Across Canada citizens were denied the right to vote. Students, senior citizens, first nations peoples, rural citizens and the homeless were all victims of these new electoral regulations. The new electoral rules were introduced by the Conservatives, supported by the Liberals and opposed by New Democrats and Greens. Recently, Liberals have been distancing themselves from their initial support of the rules, and hinting that they may need to be reexamined before the next writ drop.

Voting in elections should be as easy and straightforward as possible. The government of Australia has gone the extra step and made voting in national elections mandatory. Most national elections boast a voter turnout of around 95%. Under Canada's new voter identification rules, we've seen national voter turnout drop to the lowest since confederation at 59.1%. Anyone following the food-fight of an election we just experienced knows that Stephen Harper has taken the lead from former Aussie PM John Howard, on more than one occasion, often without giving due credit. Perhaps our reaffirmed Prime Minister should secretly drop him a line and get some under-the-table advice on keeping voter turnout high.

Maybe you tried to cast a ballot in the Municipal Elections that happened on Saturday. Unless you are a married student from Nova Scotia or an out of province student who spent the summer here, your participation in our election is considered illegal under the outdated and archaic electoral law of Nova Scotia's Municipal Elections Act. The act is so outdated, that its prevention of single students from voting outside of the district of their family home is a spirited violation of the Nova Scotia Human Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of marital status or family status, but is worded ambiguously enough to prevent any legal action on our part.

During the summer the Halifax Student Alliance sent a formal request to the Minister of Municipal Relations, Jamie Muir, asking for the act to be amended to allow students who spend the majority of their year in Halifax the right to vote. We were told since the house of assembly wasn't in session; there wouldn't be time to make any amendments before October 18th. The house has been adjourned since May 27th, and will not reconvene until October 30th. While students were busy working to pay off student loans, studying, and not exercising their democratic rights, I'm inclined to wonder how Muir spent his recess.

In a landmark year for democracy, the provincial and federal governments appear to be doing all they can to discourage young Canadians from voting. The province of Nova Scotia decided to put over nine million dollars into the Democracy 250 project this year. A project aimed at celebrating democracy and intended to promote involvement in the political process, especially among youth and first time voters. You've probably seen the product of D250 around. With the amount of money they've spent on promotional swag, the entire province could be clothed in their inmate-style D250 sweatshirts (conveniently stitched in countries where democracy has yet to exist). Halitosis should never again be an issue for Haligonians; from what I've heard, province house has been overflowing with democracy mints since early spring.

Our governments need to stop sending mixed signals about youth involvement in democracy. If they genuinely believe that our votes and voices are important (which they are), then electoral law should be changed to reflect that. Until then, stop wasting our money on advertising campaigns that encourage us to do something we cannot legally and conveniently do!