Today is election day in Canada and most people I talk to are quite nervous of the out come. If polls are correct (they often are not) then we will be waking up to a conservative government tomorrow morning. On this note, I think that we should be able to spoil our ballots and have them counted. This would allow people to express themselves in a positive way (instead of not voting because there are no acceptable options). The percentage of spoiled or ‘none of the above’ ballots should then be released with the official results of each riding.
I am not referring to the eat your ballot option. An interesting option but it may cause strange digestive problems - just think of all that black ink.
In Canada it is actually illegal to spoil your ballot (I assume that eating it is also illegal).
According to section 167(2)(a) of the Canada Elections Act, “no person shall wilfully alter, deface or destroy a ballot.” Subsection 480(1) of the Act also provides that every person is guilty of an offence who, with the intention of delaying or obstructing the electoral process, contravenes this Act.
Posted by mark at 12:50 pm on January 23rd, 2006.
Categories: day to day, ideas.