Long Distance Voting in the Canadian Election

I voted in the Canadian election yesterday, through a mail-in ballot.

I really liked Paul Martin's performance as finance minister a few years ago, and I still like Paul Martin as a leader. Until a few months ago, would have been likely to vote for his Liberal party in this election, but after all the anti-Americanism and other electioneering silliness I wrote about last week, I changed my mind, and my vote. I voted for the Conservative Party, whose party platform includes fixing a number of the mistakes that have been made in the last couple of years, and restoring the type of relationship Canada has usually had with its southern neighbor and biggest trading partner, the United States.

In case anyone is wondering how this process works, I registered last week by sending a completed form and copy of my Canadian passport by fax to Elections Canada, who mailed me a ballot package to my address in New York. To vote, I wrote the name of the candidate I am voting for on the ballot, enclosed it in an inner envelope (a security envelope with no identification on it), placed the inner envelope into an outer envelope (which had a sticker on it identifying my name and the riding I was voting in, and which I had to sign indicating I would not attempt to vote elsewhere), and placed the outer envelope into a mailing envelope. The reason for the multiple envelopes was to preserve the anonymity of my vote. My ballot is presently making its way through the US Postal Service on its way to Ottawa, where it will be counted and included in the overall results for the riding I voted in on Election Day on January 23.

This election will be interesting to watch, as the results are expected to be close...