Confessions of an Alberta Liberal electioneer
Here's another guest post for AGRDT readers to mull over. It's written by an admittedly partisan Alberta Liberal about their own personal experience of the Alberta 2008 election. AGRDT (out of curiosity) asked this person to write up their comments after the party officially requested that the Auditor General look into the election, last week.
AGRDT readers are well aware the Alberta provincial election ended over 4 months ago, so you're probably wondering, why the Liberals are still talking about it? Well, the outcome of that fateful vote is going to effect (haunt) progressive citizens of Alberta for the next four years. So I thought that I would jump on the mainstream-media bandwagon, and discuss the request from the Alberta Liberals to the Auditor General to investigate the undemocratic nature of the past election.
While many have criticized the Alberta Liberals for sounding like a bunch of ‘sour grapes,’ sending this request far to late after the election, it is important to note that the same requests and evidence was sent to Chief Electoral Officer at Elections Alberta during and immediately after the election. Since nothing was done, the Liberals decided to kick it up a notch by sending it directly to the Auditor General.
Yeah, the timing sucks, yeah it sounds like whining, but it is what it is. Let me give you some background info. I am an individual who was very involved with the election. For mainly cathartic purposes, I have decided to share my favorite acts of electoral corruption. I could probably write a top 50 if I was more motivated, instead I'll just list ten. Before we begin, you should know, I'm writing this not because I think a seamless, fair election would have changed the outcome and brought the ALP to power, I'm writing this because it's shameful that this is what the democratic process in this province looks like.
10. More than half the returning officers (or their spouses) were active members and donors of the PC party.
9. Elections Alberta officials were overheard reminiscing how PC conventions were more fun in the Don Getty era.
8. The new electoral divisions were not complete until half way through the election. For those of you who haven’t worked on a campaign, take my word, this is a BIG deal.
7. Most people didn’t know where to vote because they didn’t receive voters cards with a location on them, poll stations changed the day of and the Elections Alberta ‘Where to Vote Guide’ was incorrect the first time, so they had to send it out a second time (keep in mind the campaign is only 28 days long)
6. Elections Alberta’s website was down for most of the morning on election day. This likely contributed to one of the lowest voter turnouts in the history of Alberta.
5. Due to poor pre-election organization, voters lists all over the province were incomplete. At least a few sneaky voters were caught casting a ballot more than once. I'm sure many more weren’t caught.
4. PC candidates, scrutineers and returning officers were reported to be campaigning in and around the polling stations on Elections Day. Obviously, that is against the rules. Technically, you can't even wear partisan colors to the polling station if you are a candidate or official.
3. Hundreds of Metis in West Yellowhead weren’t allowed to vote because they didn’t have a mail box number. They only had proof of land location, and that just wasn’t good enough for Elections Alberta. Just when I thought we were beyond disenfranchising First Nations.
2. Tony Roma’s gift certificates were given to individuals in one particular Edmonton constituency when they promised to put a PC sign up on their lawn. This is the epitome of the old adage, money buys votes.
1. And my favorite… in yet another Edmonton constituency, a PC candidate made homemade signs, written in a language other than english, instructing members of his cultural community to vote for him. People requiring translation services would than be accompanied by a member of the candidate's campaign team into the voting booth. These signs indicated precisely which box to check. While I completely endorse all members of the community voting; translation services and voting aides should have be under the purview of Elections Alberta and not PC campaign staff.
Find some related media reports here, here and here. Or check these previous AGRDT posts.
You don't have to believe everything is this post, but it is difficult to deny that something is broken in Alberta's democracy. Have a different experience of the last Alberta election, or your own complaint? That's what the comment section is for.
10. Nearly all the Alberta Liberal candidates were blatant sacrifices by the ALP to attempt to maintain the ruse that they are a province wide party.
9. Everybody in Alberta has someone in their family that is 'associated' with the PCs
8. If the electoral boundaries were in fact not decided until during the campaign - Shame. But no harm no faul because this was the same for all candidates in those ridings.
7. Anyone interested in the electoral process should have become aware of where to vote long before March 3. Surely they weren't making their considered decision about who to vote for without giving the election process due diligence.
6. Same as above and how did voters find the polls before websites?
5. Shame, shame, shame on the few sneaky individuals. The right to vote comes with the responsibility to ensure that you are eleigible and on the lists.
4. I have worked on dozens of campaigns for different parties in different provinces and there is always electioneering on polling day by all parties.
3. If this is true - Shame on Elections Alberta
2. Actually it would seem that money buys signage.
1. Translation services in Canada's two official languages is their responsibility but the 'community' should be the primary source for translation in other languages, especially in a 28 day campaign.
Seems like there are much more contentious issues around the election and it makes this seem like more whining.
Electoral boundaries that truly reflect rep by pop, electronic registration and voting, campaign spending, third party advocacy groups, all party mandatory participation in debates and scheduled town halls would all make the electoral process better and fairer and maybe even make voting decisions better.
Posted by: Bob | July 12, 2008 at 12:56 PM