Will Elections Canada Investigate Anti-Vote Scandal?
Update: See table below.
The evidence is increasing that there has been a systematic effort in certain regions to deceive people and to prevent them from voting — although not a universal one, certainly, since I was not affected and I imagine that most other ridings weren’t either. Nevertheless, one or more groups have been contacting people in large numbers — using devices like automated calls and fake Elections Canada phone contacts, so clearly this isn’t just a couple of teenagers having some fun — and informing them that their voting location has changed to some other address. Invariably it hasn’t. People voting today are reminded to trust only Elections Canada when finding their voting place.
But tomorrow, I think there absolutely must be a full investigation. Obviously progressives have an opinion about who is behind these phone calls. Only one party has consistently argued that this election is unnecessary, and only one party has brought in election consultants from the American Republican campaigns which have, it must be said, used exactly the same sorts of tactics (right down to the supposedly changed voting booths and the last-minute sex scandals). And we know that Tories use robocalls — among other things, to tell seniors, quite implausibly, that the NDP will take away everybody’s pensions. But I’m going to avoid casting judgement for now and just say that we need to know who is responsible, whomever they may be. Right now.
Here are my collected list of reports so far. I would like to make a list of these allegations. Three of the first four on this list come from CBC, and one of them comes straight from Elections Canada. But I am interested in links to anything that would qualify for the list:
Riding | Source | 2008 Result | 2011 Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cambridge | Guelph Record | Conservatives by 12,918 over Liberals | |
| Edmonton | News 880 | Various Ridings | |
| Guelph | Pample | Liberals by 1792 over Conservatives | |
| Halton | Inside Halton | Conservatives by 7850 over Liberals | |
| Kitchener-Conestoga | Guelph Record | Conservatives by 649 over Liberals | |
| Kitchener-Waterloo | CBC | Conservatives by 17 over Liberals | |
| Ottawa | CTV | Various Ridings | |
| Parkdale-High Park | Liberals by 3373 over NDP | ||
| Prince Edward Island | Maclean's comments | Various Ridings | |
| Prince George-Peace River | CJDC | Conservatives by 16,155 over NDP | |
| South Shore-St. Margaret's | CBC | Conservatives by 932 over NDP | |
| St. John's | Media Co-op | Liberals by 949 over NDP | |
| Victoria | Media Co-op | Various Ridings | |
| Winnipeg South-Centre | CBC | Liberals by 2335 over Conservatives | |
Alison
Pollwatch on twitter
Sixth Estate
Excellent! Makes this page obsolete.
Alison
No it obsolutely doesn’t! Please do collate. Not everyone will follow that twitter hashtag which also contains a lot of other material not related to violations.
Alison
Globe and Mail
Sixth Estate
I saw that one. I’m going to continue to track it as long as reports roll in, since I see the media isn’t really doing that.
The next question to turn to will be what pattern was involved and who had motive. Looking at the list, it runs the gamut from close ridings to completely safe ones, for multiple parties. And there aren’t enough reports for EVERYONE everywhere to have been contacted (I certainly wasn’t, and nobody I’ve talked to during the course of the day was). Logically they’re coming off a list, and it’s the criteria for THAT list which should tell us who the guilty party is.
Simon
You can just look at the May 1st polling data on ProjectDemocracy.org to see the public polling data that was available to identify which swing ridings to send these fraud calls into.
There is a clear pattern.
The Sixth Estate » Polling Company Trying to Discredit Liberal MP Has Conservative Ties
[...] had the resources to run a criminal project in at least a dozen ridings across the country, widely reported in the media, attempting to deceive voters about where they were supposed to vote. The project as reported was [...]
Odd Happenings in Mont-Royal « The Ryan Painter Show
[...] had the resources to run a criminal project in at least a dozen ridings across the country, widely reported in the media, attempting to deceive voters about where they were supposed to vote. The project as reported was [...]
Nadine Lumley
Sign the Petition: Tell the Conservatives: Hands off our ballots!
The Conservative Party of Canada is trying to disqualify the votes of 700+ people at the University of Guelph, many of whom waited for hours to cast their ballot for the first time.
http://leadnow.ca/en/hands-off-our-ballots
Nadine Lumley
Harper’s I.D. voting scam
Taking a page from Karl Rove’s electioneering playbook, the Conservatives adopted provisions of the notorious Help America Vote Act (HAVA) that make voting more difficult for people not generally found among the conservative voting base of either America or Canada: the poor, indigent, seniors living in care facilities, immigrants, and young, first-time voters.
http://www.pacificfreepress.com/news/1/3175-stephen-harper-wants-your-vote-enough-to-try-steal-it.html
Nadine Lumley
Marc Mayrand
Chief Electoral Officer of Canada
marc.mayrand@elections.ca
or use online email form
http://www.elections.ca/courEL.aspx?lang=e
info@elections.ca
jean-pierre.kingsley@elections.ca
Nadine Lumley
The details about the 2,284 election complaints and other complaints may reveal that Elections Canada is investigating and ruling on every complaint fairly and effectively, and in a timely way
– or it may reveal Elections Canada is acting in biased, unfair ways that negatively affect the outcome of elections and/or the reputations of only certain politicians and party officials.
http://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2011/11/16/Elections-Canada-Rulings/
……………………………..
Nadine Lumley
repost from Yoga Rani – Many Conservatives used two different names, addresses and telephone numbers, and voted twice. I know at least one person who has bragged about it.
Repost from Janice Gougeon – Can anyone who lives in a small town tell me where your voting stations were? In my town, it was set up on the outskirts of town – no public transit – anyone without a car that lives in town couldn’t get out to cast a vote. Just wondering if this was part of a strategy as I live in a Con Town.
Repost from Gxxxx Xxxxxx – Well let me tell you. Not that I’m saying anything untoward happens, but the incumbent gets to supply & approve the majority of the poll clerks and deputy returning officers. Our ballots are all paper & hand counted so…………..
repost from Johanna Sommer – The Conservatives were busy in my riding as well… making robocalls on Sunday morning… the Liberal candidate did not make calls on that day, but the Cons faked the calls… knowing that in this riding people do not appreciate calls on a Sunday morning… More slimey behaviour on the part of the Cons and Harper…
repost from Deb Sheppard Lindenas – They canvassed on my street dressed in red jackets and hats. Happened to be out in my driveway and thought I’d chat but they were uncomfortable (probably my large Liberal sign on my lawn) and started to walk away when I approached them. When I joked that I didn’t need the literature, I saw they actually had blue Con flyers. On election day I heard what was in the flyers. A photo of Dan McT’s house and a real estate listing for a similar house. His wife has a big career and 5 kids. I HATE CON dirty tricks and the stupid judgmental tricks that fool people.
……………………………..
Reports are coming in from key swing ridings in Ontario and other other provinces that voters are being called at home with false information that their voting locations have changed, and in some instances sending voters an hour in the wrong direction.
http://www.examiner.com/canada-headlines-in-canada/canada-election-hampered-by-false-information-possible-voter-fraud
……………………………..
At doors I canvassed I kept hearing certain stories about how I spent too much time in Africa, or that my voting presence in the House wasn’t too impressive. When I informed them that I only spent one week a year on that continent (Sudan), and that I take it on my holiday time over New Years and on my own dime, I could sense the hesitation in their voice.
“Oh … that’s not what we heard when the Conservatives phoned us last night.” Something that hadn’t been an issue heretofore was suddenly looming large in the final days. It was frustrating, but I didn’t know who to talk to.
It was only when the election was over that a good Conservative friend informed me that they had actually been utilizing a central office for phone calls and that none of them emanated from London itself. They had poured big money from afar into influencing my riding. What I had thought to be a local campaign had suddenly taken on national dimensions.
http://glenpearson.wordpress.com/2011/05/04/transitions-brutal-in-their-despondency/
……………………………..