Vote Early, Vote Often!

Actually, a pretty big hurrah for Elections BC

Over the years I’ve swung widely when it comes to elections. I’ve worked for candidates, gone door to door, and I’ve chosen to sit out elections where none of the candidates seemed right to me. This year I’m working for Elections BC, training poll workers.

My work there feels like it’s in sharp relief to what I see happening south of the border.

The New York Times reports:

The Brennan Centre, who discredit the claims of widespread voter fraud, and who fight for voter’s rights with research and analysis, say:

It has made me very happy to be working as part of the election team in British Columbia specifically because we seem to be free of this nonsense.

Whereas in the US people are urged, over and over, to check and double-check that their name is still on the voter’s list, in BC they are actively working to expand the list, and even to add the names of high-school students who will be eligible to vote in two or three years.

Where many US jurisdictions are working to place barriers in the way of potential voters, in BC the goal is to bring as many people as possible into the pool of electors.

Haven’t quite been registered to vote? Walk into any poll on voting day with a Drivers’ licence and something showing your address, and you’ll be added in minutes. Don’t have a Driver’s licence? There’s a long list of things that can prove you’re who you claim - including a prescription pill bottle.

Have you arrived at the polling station with none of your ID, but with your wife or roommate? They can swear an oath and vouch for you, telling Elections BC that you really are who you say, and that you live where you say.

And, in a first for me, because the big list of voters is now electronic, and synced across the province every few minutes, you can now walk into any voting place, anywhere, and they’ll print you a ballot for your local candidates on the spot.

What I am truly loving about BC Elections is the feeling that they trust the people who live in this province, that they really do have faith in the voters here, and that they see their role as doing everything possible to make it easy for people to vote.

And the two young parents who came by this week to vote in our office, with four children under six years of age? The enthusiasm of those little kids, and their excitement at getting their “Future Voter” stickers, was the highlight of our day!