This is one my friend Hazen is bound to like and deserves to be labelled as both humour and public policy.
Elections Canada has issued a policy statement, in advance of several federal by-elections in Québec, that Muslim women wearing a face covering veil are allowed to vote, as long as they present photo ID.
The introduction of the secret ballot was a great step forward for democracy from the times when a voter (male citizens and land owners only, of course) had to stand in the public square and shout their vote to the election officials. Allowing anyone, man, woman, child, draped in cloth, to vote early and often merely by holding out some piece of ID carries the secret ballot to the point of ludicrousness. The logical extension must be to allow husbands/fathers/brothers to observe the women marking their ballots in respect of cultural rules that dictate a women must do as her husband/father/male relative orders.
A stretch for equal rights might offer the opportunity for veiled women to remove their face coverings to female poll clerks, behind a screen, to confirm their identity. The Elections Canada policy is both a farce and a recipe for illegal voting. Moreover, special accommodations for the suggested voting practice should not be required at every polling station. Such arrangements could be offered in select locations during the advanced polling days If you want to vote you can travel a few extra minutes to a central location.
Election observers will recall how a few Jewish voters in Vaughan ON 2006 municipal election cried discrimination, and that they had been deprived of their right to vote, because the polling station was in the same building as a Christian church. General derision was the response to their protest. How will Canadians react to the latest nonsense from Elections Canada?
Elections Canada has issued a policy statement, in advance of several federal by-elections in Québec, that Muslim women wearing a face covering veil are allowed to vote, as long as they present photo ID.
The introduction of the secret ballot was a great step forward for democracy from the times when a voter (male citizens and land owners only, of course) had to stand in the public square and shout their vote to the election officials. Allowing anyone, man, woman, child, draped in cloth, to vote early and often merely by holding out some piece of ID carries the secret ballot to the point of ludicrousness. The logical extension must be to allow husbands/fathers/brothers to observe the women marking their ballots in respect of cultural rules that dictate a women must do as her husband/father/male relative orders.
A stretch for equal rights might offer the opportunity for veiled women to remove their face coverings to female poll clerks, behind a screen, to confirm their identity. The Elections Canada policy is both a farce and a recipe for illegal voting. Moreover, special accommodations for the suggested voting practice should not be required at every polling station. Such arrangements could be offered in select locations during the advanced polling days If you want to vote you can travel a few extra minutes to a central location.
Election observers will recall how a few Jewish voters in Vaughan ON 2006 municipal election cried discrimination, and that they had been deprived of their right to vote, because the polling station was in the same building as a Christian church. General derision was the response to their protest. How will Canadians react to the latest nonsense from Elections Canada?
