U of T students are breathing a guarded sigh of relief after an announcement that election polls will be open on the St. George campus after all. But many questions remain unanswered.
Confirmed by numerous sources, but not by Elections Canada, the polling stations at the University College dining hall, the Graduate Students’ Union, and 89 Chestnut will serve residence students voting in Trinity-Spadina in Monday’s federal election. (See graphic, below left, for details.)
This comes after Elections Canada cancelled special ballot stations that would have let residence students vote on campus from Sunday until Tuesday. Because Elections Canada’s decision to cancel the voting stations directly followed inquiries by a Liberal lawyer into their legality, the move sparked heated accusations of political interference in the close NDP-Liberal race. Many feel the riding will be decided by the student vote.
It is still not clear why the special voting stations were cancelled, especially since similar special ballot stations went off without a hitch last week at the University of Ottawa.
“There was a concern that canvassing could take place in those areas [on U of T campus where voting would have taken place],” said Diane Benson, spokesperson for Elections Canada.
Liberal candidate Tony Ianno’s campaign had concerns of their own.
Tom Allison, Ianno’s campaign manager, said that his office was not notified of the existence, times, and locations of the special ballot stations, and that when they found out, the Trinity-Spadina returning office told the campaign that they would not be allowed to send scrutineers-volunteers sent by candidates to observe voting and ensure that elections are conducted fairly.
“We found that there was a secret deal made and that there was voting happening in secret,” charged Allison.
After the special voting stations were cancelled, Ianno, SAC, and NDP candidate Olivia Chow all called for real polls to be set up on campus on election day.
Elections Canada did not comment on whether they had notified the Ianno campaign of the special voting provisions. A fax proves that Elections Canada did notify NDP candidate Olivia Chow’s campaign early last week, however.
“I couldn’t imagine an instance whereby the returning office of Elections Canada would only inform one campaign that a special ballot is going on,” said SAC president Paul Bretscher, who was angered by the decision to cancel the voting stations.
Elections Canada also did not comment on whether scrutineers would have been allowed to watch the special balloting process at U of T. But Rachel Crête, returning officer for Ottawa-Vanier, confirmed that scrutineers were allowed to observe the special ballots in her riding at the University of Ottawa.
Tensions ran high at Monday’s Trinity-Spadina all-candidates’ meeting at Hart House.
“The NDP is listening; we have been paying attention,” said Chow. “Our Liberal MP knows that, and that is why he’s afraid to let students vote.”
Ianno responded by reading aloud part of a National Post article in which Éric Hébert, NDP Federal Secretary, supported the decision to cancel the special ballots. Hébert has since reversed his position. The NDP filed a complaint with Elections Canada about the cancelled stations on Monday, and Jack Layton blasted Ianno for interfering with the youth vote.
“What the Students’ Administrative Council had tried to do was to help students exercise their right to vote,” he said. “What Liberals are doing is blocking a fundamental democratic right, and it’s completely unacceptable.”
On top of this, there is confusion over what identification students can use to register to vote. In order to register, you would normally need two pieces of identification: one that proves your identity, and another that proves your place of residence-the latter typically being a utility bill with your name and address on it, a bank statement, or a lease agreement.
Because some students in residence do not have any of these, students voting on campus were initially told that they could print an invoice from ROSI to prove their residence.
Several days before the planned special ballot, SAC received word from Elections Canada that the ROSI printout would not be enough. Elections Canada did not say why, but it may be because students can easily change their address on ROSI-meaning any U of T student could alter their invoice and vote on campus.
As an alternative to the ROSI printout, the deans of students from each college have delivered signed letters to the returning office that includes the names of every student living in residence, to serve as proof of residency for those who don’t have a phone bill. But at the advance polls at St. Vladimir’s church on Monday, the lists were not present, and a number of students were not allowed to vote.
Since the advance polls, Elections Canada has been signing up voters using these lists, but they still have not officially confirmed that the lists are satisfactory proof of residence-something that is contributing to rising fears that students’ votes could be challenged on election day.
“I think this is indicative of the problems that have arisen,” said Bretscher. “If we had simply been allowed to continue the special ballot provision that had been established between SAC, Elections Canada, and Trinity-Spadina…U of T students would have voted by now.”
Despite the change in plans, University College dean of students Nona Robinson has some cautious praise for the Trinity-Spadina returning office.
“After that special poll was cancelled, Elections Canada immediately started registering students to vote, and they worked very hard to do that for three days,” she said. “They’ve also been very helpful in making sure that there are polling stations on campus.”
Only time will tell whether students’ votes will be allowed to count in U of T’s largest, and closest, riding.
