Man, am I ever happy I live in Canada. Voting is so easy for us here.
If you do your taxes, and you're over 18, you check the box saying you want to be on the list of electors. Then when there is an election, your voter registration card or whatever it's called arrives at that address.
Moved and haven't yet changed that? Or student away at school, and wanting to count your during-school home as your official residence for the purpose of voting? No problem.
All you have to do is show up at the polling station with an official-type document with your name and address on it (I used student loan papers when this occured to me, but I think people have used everything from electricity bills to rental agreements), and a piece of government-issued photo ID (which is most commonly a driver's license, but can be passport, health card, age of majority card, citizenship card, a whole variety of military IDs and so on), they fill out a form and boom, you're ready to go in less than five minutes. Proceed to polling booth, pick up your ballot, check a box, put ballot in big box, go home.
Since there's quite a few polling stations in each electoral district (comprising about 100,000 people in each, also remember not all of them are elgible to vote due to age or lack of citizenship, and not all of them do vote), there also aren't big lines or anything like that. Process takes fifteen minutes, tops, even if you have to do the extra get-on-the-voter-list before filling out your ballot.
Though before you could vote, you'd need to get citizenship. And to get that, first you need permanent resident status (some sort of immigration thing, seems fairly simple and straightforward, but can take awhile), and you have to live in Canada for three years out of four I think under permanent resident before being able to become a citizen.
There are a variety of ways to immigrate, easiest would be family class. No family here? No problem. Lemme know a few months in advance, and you can become my spouse for the duration of the process, cause heck, that's legal too ;)
Don't believe her! Sure, Ottawa is nice in August, but I lived there from September to December. If you're ready for the 60 degree Celcius (108 F) temperature shift, go right ahead... And that's not counting the wind chill. :)
Come to Vancouver instead! We only have to deal with forest fires, earthquakes, extremely high property prices, and a really screwy conservative (for Canada) provincial government that has the gall to call itself the "Liberal" party which hopefully should get voted out next year.
But if it's Ottawa or the US, go for Ottawa. They have cool museums. Just be sure to bring a car. Four months in Ottawa without a car. *shudder*
emmalynne and I had some problems with the transit system. I recall being on an east west street, close to Rideau mall, being unable to determine which side of the street to stand on to catch the southbound #6 bus from the bus sign.
I ended up walking to work in the snow, it was just easier.
Ah, the two buses to a route, one going one way one going the other way. It confused me at first too, but it just requires knowing a bit more the routes is all -namely the endpoint of the route, and where major landmarks/transitway stops are. If you're not used to it, it is confusing, but when you get used to it, it's a breeze to navigate.
I think I'm seriously leaning toward Canada. Want to learn the National Anthem with me and be roomies? I think another on my friend's list is heading that way giving our sorry state of affairs in politics in this country.
You also have to learn Canadian history to pass the citizenship test ;)
I'm not sure why they make people do that though, I think they ran the test on a portion of the Canadian-born populace and they failed miserably, so I'm not sure why they expect immigrants to learn it. Maybe so someone does, I suppose?
I can't marry you both though, we're not that liberal yet ;)
Oh, and it is slightly relieving that this did in fact turn out to be an accident.
The sad part is, justified or no, politics in America are so polarized that if the Republicans do win, the Democrats will automatically assume that the election has been tampered with, regardless if its justified or not.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2004-08-05 08:14 pm (UTC)If you do your taxes, and you're over 18, you check the box saying you want to be on the list of electors. Then when there is an election, your voter registration card or whatever it's called arrives at that address.
Moved and haven't yet changed that? Or student away at school, and wanting to count your during-school home as your official residence for the purpose of voting? No problem.
All you have to do is show up at the polling station with an official-type document with your name and address on it (I used student loan papers when this occured to me, but I think people have used everything from electricity bills to rental agreements), and a piece of government-issued photo ID (which is most commonly a driver's license, but can be passport, health card, age of majority card, citizenship card, a whole variety of military IDs and so on), they fill out a form and boom, you're ready to go in less than five minutes. Proceed to polling booth, pick up your ballot, check a box, put ballot in big box, go home.
Since there's quite a few polling stations in each electoral district (comprising about 100,000 people in each, also remember not all of them are elgible to vote due to age or lack of citizenship, and not all of them do vote), there also aren't big lines or anything like that. Process takes fifteen minutes, tops, even if you have to do the extra get-on-the-voter-list before filling out your ballot.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-08-05 08:41 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-08-05 08:58 pm (UTC)Though before you could vote, you'd need to get citizenship. And to get that, first you need permanent resident status (some sort of immigration thing, seems fairly simple and straightforward, but can take awhile), and you have to live in Canada for three years out of four I think under permanent resident before being able to become a citizen.
There are a variety of ways to immigrate, easiest would be family class. No family here? No problem. Lemme know a few months in advance, and you can become my spouse for the duration of the process, cause heck, that's legal too ;)
I love Canada.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-08-05 09:23 pm (UTC)That cracked me up. Thanks!
(no subject)
Date: 2004-08-05 09:46 pm (UTC)Come to Vancouver instead! We only have to deal with forest fires, earthquakes, extremely high property prices, and a really screwy conservative (for Canada) provincial government that has the gall to call itself the "Liberal" party which hopefully should get voted out next year.
But if it's Ottawa or the US, go for Ottawa. They have cool museums. Just be sure to bring a car. Four months in Ottawa without a car. *shudder*
(no subject)
Date: 2004-08-06 02:06 am (UTC)To get out of the city though is another matter. If you're staying in, it's easy. Otherwise, it's not.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-08-06 03:25 am (UTC)I ended up walking to work in the snow, it was just easier.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-08-06 05:15 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-08-06 12:26 am (UTC)And sadly, I'm only half kidding.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-08-06 02:10 am (UTC)I'm not sure why they make people do that though, I think they ran the test on a portion of the Canadian-born populace and they failed miserably, so I'm not sure why they expect immigrants to learn it. Maybe so someone does, I suppose?
I can't marry you both though, we're not that liberal yet ;)
(no subject)
Date: 2004-08-05 10:22 pm (UTC)The sad part is, justified or no, politics in America are so polarized that if the Republicans do win, the Democrats will automatically assume that the election has been tampered with, regardless if its justified or not.
I'm uncertain if that reaction will go both ways.