Dear Editor,
Making sure we can vote – the old fashioned way (PART 2)
Many of you may remember my letter in this paper on September 12 this year. In it, I told my story of trying to register to vote in the Provincial election earlier this year. I related how surprised I was that I had to go to the Municipal Offices because my information in the MPAC database was still incorrect.
The Municipal Clerk took my information in early September and told me he would have my records corrected, BUT, if I had not received a voter registration card in a week or so, I should come back to see him and they would have my wife and I added to the voters list. We were busy, and so almost a month went by and I realized we had not received the required voter registration card; and, upon checking, learned that the voter registration letters had been mailed out.
I once again made my way to the Municipal Office and was told that the MPAC database still had me located at our old address, but a change had been made. We were now classified as ineligible to vote. So we filled out the required forms again, correcting our address. This time, we were provided with a letter with our PIN so that we can vote electronically, or as accreditation if we want to vote in person.
A word of advice: if you have not received a voter registration letter and you are planning to vote (and you should be planning to vote), go to the Municipal Office and ensure that you are indeed on the voters roll and marked as eligible to vote.
I should point out that I am not criticizing the staff at the Municipal Office, but the bureaucracy involved in the databases that rule everything we do. Again I say: Good Luck.
David Herman
