CARP comes out against proposed Fair Elections Act

CARP, the national seniors’ advocacy group, has come out in opposition to the Fair Elections Act, Bill C-23, put forward by the Conservative government.

Susan Eng, the organization’s vice-president of advocacy, stated its position at the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs in Ottawa last week.

Major provisions of the bill include the elimination of vouching as a means of establishing eligibility at the polling booth and the requirement for more identification, having political parties select poll officials, disallowing Elections Canada from promotion of voting and diminishing that body’s ability to investigate electoral financing irregularities.

Eng said a poll of CARP members to which some 3,600 members responded showed 80 percent disapprove of the Fair Elections Act, with two-thirds opposing it in the strongest terms.

“They see it as diminishing democracy and they want it withdrawn or amended significantly,” she stated.

While the rationale for elimination of vouching, along with the use of the mailed voter identification card as ID, is to fight voter fraud, CARP members see reduced voter participation as a bigger problem than voter fraud by a factor of four to one,  63 per cent to 15 per cent.

Seventy two per cent do not think that vouching is a source of voter fraud and 75 per cent think that banning vouching will suppress voter participation.

According to the poll results, 10 per cent of CARP members have either had to have someone vouch for them when they voted (4%), or knew someone who had to be vouched (6%). One-third (34%) used the voter identification card the last time they voted.

“Given the commitment to voting from CARP members and older Canadians generally, it reasonable to suggest that CARP members themselves would be inconvenienced by the elimination of vouching and use of the voter identification cards but not disenfranchised – they would find the necessary identification to allow them to vote,” said Eng. “However, they are clearly concerned about others, especially those in seniors’ homes or long term care.”

Eng referred to a letter received by the Edmonton CARP chapter from a woman on behalf of her 97-year old mother in long term care. The mother is frail but fully capable of voting and did so regularly with the home’s workers vouching for her.

She no longer has a driver’s licence, the Alberta Health card does not have her address and her daughter handles all her banking and other needs so all her mail goes to her daughter. To be able to vote, she now has to ask the home to issue an attestation of residence document for her, which will also be necessary for every other resident of the Home wishing to vote.

“The option of vouching in such a case has the obvious advantage of leaving little to no opportunity for fraud, especially as many nursing homes and seniors’ residences have a polling station right in the building,” Eng said.

CARP is recommending that vouching be reinstated and the use of voter identification cards be made permanent. Having well trained and non-partisan polling officials will protect against irregularities.

CARP is also recommending restoration of Elections Canada’s mandate to make the electoral process better known to the public, particularly to those persons and groups most likely to experience difficulties in exercising their democratic rights.

We recommend that this mandate be restored. 

Another recommendation are that “robocall” political telephone marketing companies be required to keep records of the script and to whom the robocalls were directed for five years, not just one year as in the current bill

In addition, the group wants all election officers to be appointed based on merit and not be nominated by candidates, electoral district associations or parties.

“CARP members are avid voters and clearly see this bill as detrimental to voter participation, detrimental to a fair and transparent electoral process and to democracy itself,” declared Eng. “As such, we believe that at a minimum, the bill should be amended to reverse the provisions highlighted above. Otherwise, Bill C-23 should be withdrawn.”

Susan Eng will be the guest speaker at the CARP Edmonton Chapter annual general meeting on May 2 at the Norwood Legion. Non-members are welcome. For further information call 780-450-4802 or email carp.edmonton@gmail.com.