I Voted!

I have lived overseas for a number of years which means it has been a long time since I cast my ballot. As the process to become a Canadian citizen took such a long time, I was not eligible to vote in last year's Federal election which made today's Alberta Provincial election my first chance to vote.

Although I was not on the voter's list, I was able to register today despite the people in charge sending me back and forth to different locations in the polling station. At last I was given my two ballots for marking with a cross. (The election was for your local MLA and potential Senators.)

No hanging chads or problems with electronic voting here. There were tables at one end of the room, with cardboard screens for privacy - one breath and they'd have fallen over - and pencils for making your mark. Marking a cross with a short yellow pencil did not have the same satisfaction as marking a big fat X with a chinagraph pencil attached to the polling booth by string. Just to see them hanging there waiting for you made your decision seem so much more important than 2 short yellow pencils thrown at the back of a desk.

But at least the Election Officer had her knitting.