Kurt_eh
11-20-2004, 09:51 AM
Hungry for change, voter eats ballot
Last Updated Fri, 19 Nov 2004 20:49:37 EST
EDMONTON - A young Edmonton voter has protested what she calls a gap in democracy by eating her vote at an advance poll.
Leah Handerson boiled her ballot in chocolate sauce, poured it into a piecrust and then swallowed the concoction Friday at an Edmonton-Mill Creek polling station.
Handerson complains that the province's political parties do not engage Albertans in discussion, and the political process in general doesn't pay enough attention to citizens' opinions.
She did, however, urge people who have already picked a candidate to go ahead and vote on Monday and refrain from making similar election confections.
Poll supervisor Dennis Koroluk has promised to pursue the matter with Elections Alberta. It's illegal to destroy a ballot, which is considered an official government document.
During the 2000 federal campaign three people in Edmonton were charged under the Elections Act for willfully destroying or defacing their ballots by consuming them.
Although the case was later dropped, Elections Canada issued a stern warning during the June 2004 federal election and included a reference to the illegal nature of ballot-eating in its Frequently Asked Questions online.
Written by CBC News Online staff
http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2004/11/19/alberta-election041119.html
Last Updated Fri, 19 Nov 2004 20:49:37 EST
EDMONTON - A young Edmonton voter has protested what she calls a gap in democracy by eating her vote at an advance poll.
Leah Handerson boiled her ballot in chocolate sauce, poured it into a piecrust and then swallowed the concoction Friday at an Edmonton-Mill Creek polling station.
Handerson complains that the province's political parties do not engage Albertans in discussion, and the political process in general doesn't pay enough attention to citizens' opinions.
She did, however, urge people who have already picked a candidate to go ahead and vote on Monday and refrain from making similar election confections.
Poll supervisor Dennis Koroluk has promised to pursue the matter with Elections Alberta. It's illegal to destroy a ballot, which is considered an official government document.
During the 2000 federal campaign three people in Edmonton were charged under the Elections Act for willfully destroying or defacing their ballots by consuming them.
Although the case was later dropped, Elections Canada issued a stern warning during the June 2004 federal election and included a reference to the illegal nature of ballot-eating in its Frequently Asked Questions online.
Written by CBC News Online staff
http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2004/11/19/alberta-election041119.html