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Saviolo

(3,280 posts)
Mon Oct 19, 2015, 04:13 PM Oct 2015

Voter given used ballot at Fredericton polling station

Last edited Mon Oct 19, 2015, 04:49 PM - Edit history (1)

Source: CBC

When Fredericton's Stephanie Merrill went to her neighbourhood polling station this morning, she was in for a surprise. The ballot she was handed was already marked — by another voter.

Merrill declined to comment on her tweet, though she did say she asked for, and received, a fresh ballot.

Elections Canada spokesperson Francoise Enguehard would not comment on a specific case, but did say there is a protocol in place for spoiled ballots.

She says all spoiled ballots are to be put in a separate box and, at the end of the day, they are counted.

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/pre-marked-ballots-dirty-vancouver-1.3267769



This is not the only report of this. There's a Reddit thread here:
https://www.reddit.com/r/canada/comments/3pdudu/reports_coming_in_from_all_over_canada_premarked/
collecting further reports and stories of voters receiving pre-marked or used ballots.

Please, if you have not yet cast your vote in Canada, double check the ballot you receive!
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Voter given used ballot at Fredericton polling station (Original Post) Saviolo Oct 2015 OP
It seems the U.S. doesn't have the market cornered.. Blus4u Oct 2015 #1
Worked a polling place once where the precinct captain personally Igel Oct 2015 #4
You know what'll solve this problem? d_legendary1 Oct 2015 #2
The Harper Conservatives Saviolo Oct 2015 #3
Not in Canada too! d_legendary1 Oct 2015 #5

Igel

(35,296 posts)
4. Worked a polling place once where the precinct captain personally
Mon Oct 19, 2015, 09:09 PM
Oct 2015

made sure that nearly every single provisional ballot was inevitably spoiled.

That's over a dozen of them. He focused on (D) voters.

He had been chair of the local (D) party for years, had worked the polls for years, and decided he's personally supervise the affidavit ballots because of his greater experience. He simply screwed up without checking the flip-book. He was aghast when he found out he'd screwed up--and the person who caught him making the mistake and pointed it out with yet another (D) voter was one of the (R) precinct members.

One could assume that he was a corrupt, crooked liberal, but he wasn't. He simply screwed up--no good will necessary, no pollyannish thinking.

Then there was another polling place where this cute little 60-something in white cowboy garb and cowboy boots got up, screamed at how stupid the voters were, and so disrupted her precinct that in the end there was no way to reconcile the ballots cast with the voter registration book. As she screamed and stomped her feet, as her fellow poll workers secured the materials and corralled her, voters in line got fed up and left; voters exited the polling booths and voters who hadn't signed in entered, voted, and exited. They had over a dozen extra votes cast in excess of signatures. (We watched in horror at another precinct in the same physical space after we locked down our voting booths.

One could assume that she did this because she wanted to help voter fraud, but she'd been a (D) for years and was yelling at how stupid all the (R) voters were who'd signed in, presumably to vote for Bush II.

This doesn't count the misplaced signatures I've seen or other screw-ups. ("Um, I haven't been here, but somebody signed for me--don't you people check ID?" "No, that's not my name so I'm not going to sign there." "That's my father's signature, what's it doing under my name--he's senior, I'm junior."

Then there are the inconsequential ones. Reading off the numbers for each race and getting them backwards. "No, no, that was column 16, 173--column 17 had 161! It's not column 16, 161 and column 17, 173!"

So many perfect people on DU who never make mistakes.

d_legendary1

(2,586 posts)
2. You know what'll solve this problem?
Mon Oct 19, 2015, 05:20 PM
Oct 2015

1. Cutting the number of early voting days

2. Disenfranchising minorities, the elderly, and those in rural areas

3. Make voting a Monday-Friday thing

4. Make it difficult for people to get their voter's registration cards by shutting down the places where they can get it.

That'll put an end to that voter fraud up in Canada!

(I'll put this in here in case someone thinks I'm serious)

Saviolo

(3,280 posts)
3. The Harper Conservatives
Mon Oct 19, 2015, 05:58 PM
Oct 2015

did a lot to make voting harder this election. The voter registration card (that the government mails you!) no longer counts as a piece of ID or a piece of mail that verifies your address. So, you need a driver's license, or another government issued photo ID with your address on it, or you need two piece of ID or a bill with your mailing address on it.

d_legendary1

(2,586 posts)
5. Not in Canada too!
Tue Oct 20, 2015, 06:28 AM
Oct 2015

Its supposed to be our escape option in case Trump wins the election. Damn...Looks like the oligarchs are winning everywhere.

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