Politics | Democracy
Democracy Lessons From Canada
How elections should be
So Canada had an election Monday night. Did you know?
Even with a new more moderate conservative leader Erin O’Toole leading the right, the left-centrist Justin Trudeau was re-elected to be Prime Minister. There are other further left wing parties and even a more right wing party on the ballot, but you can read about that elsewhere.
What’s interesting about this election is that it’s over. It’s been called. The other party leaders have conceded and Trudeau has made his acceptance speech.
Yet, mail-in ballots remain to be counted, recounts will happen in some closely contested districts, and it may take days to see the full outcome of the electoral process.
Votes are still marked on paper with a pencil in Canada, and counted by hand. No electronic voting and counting machines. The counting is done by volunteers and overseen by a non-partisan national organization called Elections Canada. No requirement for partisan party overseers at the polls.
When the result was apparent at about midnight last night and the acceptance speech made at about 1:30am, no one was screaming that the process was corrupt, fraudulent, or was stolen from another party.
