My First Electronic Ballot

I just finished voting in the 2011 Alberta Liberal Leadership Race. This is the first time that I've ever voted electronically, and as far as I can tell, it worked pretty smoothly: I was snail-mailed a unique PIN along with the URL of a special website set up for the vote. I had to pass a CAPTCHA to ensure that I was a real person and not a robot attempting to subvert the vote; then, I was asked to rank my choices on the preferential ballot.

I've seen a few complaints on Twitter and FaceBook from Liberals (and others) disgruntled that Dr. Raj Sherman appeared at the top of the ballot, instead of at the bottom, where traditional alphabetic ordering would place him. At first this concerned me as well, but when I was presented with my ballot, the candidates were ordered as follows:

Laurie BLAKEMAN
Bruce PAYNE
Dr. Raj SHERMAN
Hugh MACDONALD
Bill HARVIE

That's not alphabetical order, but nor is Sherman at the top of the list. This suggests to me that the candidates are ordered randomly, and that each voter sees one arrangement of however many mathematical permutations there are of those five names. I have no idea what the paper ballots will look like, of course; I would imagine they're going to be sorted alphabetically.

Whatever the outcome of the race, I'm excited by the Alberta Liberals' efforts to make voting more accessible. My snail-mail voting instruction sheet also included options to vote by telephone, and of course people can still vote in person on September 10th if they choose to do so.

If you're an Alberta Liberal Party member or Registered Supporter and haven't yet voted, I encourage you to do so. It's fast, easy, and above all, satisfying to know that you've performed an important civic duty.

Looking Back, Moving Forward

Tonight, hundreds of Alberta Liberal Leader Kevin Taft's friends and supporters gathered to say thanks to him and Jeanette for their years of tireless work for democracy. A terrific program of skits, improv, storytelling and video honoured the couple and everything they did to fight for a better Alberta.

Whether or not you agree with the policies and perspective of the Alberta Liberals, I can personally testify that Kevin and Jeanette fought the good fight; they got involved for the right reasons.

A few months back, Kevin announced that he would step down as leader. Now three other men are vying for the job: Mo Elsalhy, David Swann and Dave Taylor. As a staff member of the Official Opposition, I'm not really supposed to take sides, but I will say that having worked with all three men for nearly three years, I know that they, too, are running for the right reasons.

Since this race is a bid for the leadership of the party, only Alberta Liberal party members can vote. I encourage anyone who's interested in grassroots politics to visit http://www.albertaliberal.com/ and purchase a membership; it's only ten bucks, a bargain for a chance to influence the course of Alberta politics.

For that matter, I encourage anyone to take out a membership in the party of their choice. Party members have a huge influence on who runs for office, and therefore who runs the province or the nation. If you're disenchanted or cynical about politics, getting involved is the only cure.

Below the silly picture, you'll find links to the campaign websites of all three leadership candidates.


http://www.elsalhy.com/
http://www.electdavidswann.com/
http://www.tayloralberta.ca/