a wolf angel is not a good angel

I went to my voting precinct. I tell a zillion people I am not on the elector’s list, and finally get to go to get a little slip of paper that says I should vote here.

To show that I was legally allowed to vote in this riding, I had to:

• show my driver’s license, with a little sticker on the back which showed my new address.

To show that I was legally allowed to vote in this riding, I did not have to:

• show proof of citizenship in any way;
• show any other proof of residence like, for example, a utility bill or bank statement.

Actually, you do not even need to show ID, if you go with someone else who does have ID and will swear to who you are. But I have ID.

I go wait in my subpart of the riding (they have names but I forget what they are), which is the *only* one with a line up, and wait and wait and wait: only one person can vote per whatever at once. Then, just as I near the front, I notice that I show up as Middle Name, Misspelled Last Name First Name on my yellow sheet (the one they gave me when I added myself to the electoral list), so I go back to get this fixed. The whole voting place is staffed by senior citizens, so it takes forever. Among the things they didn’t do: look at my ID again to confirm my name, but I got the misspelling fixed.

I go back into line, after a bunch of people get there in front of me. Wait wait wait. I hand them my paper, which they copy down into yet another book. They do not ask for ID, though they ask for it from people who have just the voter registration card. I go to the booth and look mournfully at my possibilities. Conservative, no, Bloc, no: that was easy. Liberal, no: that was almost as easy. NDP, Green, NDP, Green. I want an NDP presence in Quebec; I do not want this particular candidate elected, I very much do not want this guy elected. He won’t be, of course — Bloc will win — but I feel sick thinking of voting for him. But my riding has eleventy million Bloc and Conservative and Liberal signs, and eleventy ZILLION NDP signs, but only a half dozen Green signs. (I also got stuff from all the candidates except the Green party.) Can’t you even pretend to care? I wish I could vote Bloc Pot (or whatever they’re called now, despite not actually smoking pot) or Marxist-Leninist or Communist or independent, because I am so dissatisfied with all my choices. NDP Greeen NDP Green NDP Green.

I vote and regret who I selected almost immediately, though I’d've regretted it either way.

I go and have breakfast (a somewhat weak and overpriced mocha, a nice raspberry-apricot-chocolate muffin), then buy bread, fruit and veggies, and smoked chipotle peppers (my priorities are totally straight). I still need some other things (dairy and eggy things, and stuff to make butter chicken, and — well, lots of stuff), but at least I’ve bought some food, and it’s easier to continue than to start.

Tonight, expect super-exciting election liveblogging starting at 9 EST, when I will turn on the TV which will be broadcasting results. Sadly, I will not find info online, unless foreign outlets bother to post things before the Canadian ones can. Stupid time zones.

This entry was posted on Monday, January 23rd, 2006 at 1:23 pm and is filed under Canadia. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.