Monday, October 06, 2008

Will Canadian voters be turned away from the polls?

It seems appropriate to raise this question - given the adulation that some CPC tacticians reserve for Karl Rove and his arsenal of dirty tricks, and the use of many of his classic manipulations in the course of this election campaign; some were even deployed before the writ was issued.

In the US, wide-spread abuse in the application of regulations disenfranchised millions of voters, mainly in poor urban areas because they were denied the right to vote.

Under the guise of public outcry at the possibility that women wearing a traditional niqab would attempt to exercise their right as citizens, new regulations were passed in Parliament. These apply to everyone; Elections Canada sent out a press release on October 1 to remind voters.

It appears that many citizens who have been presenting themselves to advance polling stations in their ridings are unaware of these new regulations.

It begs the question why the Harper Government was not as scrupulous in this respect, as it appeared to be have been quite enthusiastic in its broad diffusion of those "10 percenters" bulletins, used as party propaganda in some ridings not represented by a Conservative MP.

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