Representatives from several organizations and concerned citizens delivered a petition to MP Rick Norlock's Cobourg office on Tuesday, March 25th, and rallied outside his office, asking him to help fix the "Fair Elections Act" or scrap it entirely. The event was part of a national day of action called "Let People Vote!" supported and facilitated by Leadnow.ca, the Council of Canadians and the Canadian Federation of Students. From Victoria to Halifax, citizens gathered at more than 25 MP offices to deliver a petition on behalf of 80,000 Canadians. The petition opposes the unnecessarily strict voter ID requirements that could stop hundreds of thousands from voting in the next election. "Parts of the proposed election law would suppress voting by young people away from home, low-income people with inadequate ID, some seniors in long-term care facilities with inadequate ID, and aboriginal people without on-reserve addresses" says lawyer Wilf Day of Port Hope. "The proposed election law will eliminate vouching, which enabled 120,000 people -- especially youth, seniors and aboriginals -- to vote in 2011." "Many of us are concerned that the proposed changes to the elections law are politically motivated. US Republicans have used similar tactics to disenfranchise people who they believe are more likely to vote for Democrats" said Day, contact person for the local petition drive. "Of course, the ultimate vote-suppressing law is our outdated winner-take-all voting system, which throws half our votes in the trash" says Day. The petition also calls for election fraud investigators to be given the power they need to compel political operatives - such as "Pierre Poutine" of robo-call fame - to testify.

• published: 26 Mar 2014
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