Quebec Election

[bcholmes]

First: boo to Quebec about that whole veil thing.

Second: bizarre election. First minority in a century, and (Premier) Jean Charest has lost his seat. (I love results like this: electorate says, "we'll grudgingly give your party a small win, but your leader has to go.")

Third: a CBC commentator suggested that someone could just "give" Charest their seat. I think people should know how parliament works before they get to be CBC commentators.

Edit: CBC is now reporting that they found more Jean Charest ballots. I guess they were in a box, somewhere. So Charest keeps his seat.

Comments

[redbird]

Where I live (yes, different jurisdiction) it is illegal for a poll worker to demand that I show any sort of ID, photographic or otherwise. I prove who I am by signing my name; they have a record of my signature from when I registered. (Frankly, this involves a certain amount of trust, as my signature is not nearly so clear as when I was 18, but there's always trust involved, somewhere in the identification chain.) If I showed up in a veil, well, Len would probably ask why, but that's social, not official. (One of the poll-workers at my polling place is an old acquaintance from the neo-pagan community.)

[(Anonymous)]

I voted today. To vote in a Quebec election you must present a valid ID card with photo (medicare card or "carte soleil", driver license or army card).

If you are aware of this fact then it should makes sense than the voting staff must look at your face to identify you. For veiled women it can be done by a female employee on request.

Fortunately some Canadians share my POV:
http://canadianbluelemons.blogspot.com/2007/03/if-photo-id-is-okay-for-bob-rae-why-not.html

[redbird]

It makes sense, if that's how Quebec does it. My thought was only that there are other ways of handling voter identification.

And yes, I think Quebec's accommodation is reasonable.