Long Lines for Election Day in Alberta globalnews.ca

Ken MacGillivray and Karen Bartko, Global News:

“All electors are legislatively required to complete a Statement of Eligibility form (Form 13) at the voting station. This form is a declaration by an elector that they meet the required legislated criteria to receive and cast ballots,” Elections Edmonton said.

[…]

Those casting ballots say confirming voters are on the register or completing the necessary paperwork takes three to five minutes per voter.

I was lucky to be in and out of my polling place in about fifteen minutes, but the longest part was waiting for the person to diligently copy my name, address, and date-of-birth from my driver’s license to a triplicate form, immediately after confirming the same information on the printed voter roll. It is a silly requirement coming down as part of a larger unwanted package from our provincial government for no clear reason. The same legislation also prohibits electronic tabulation, so all the ballots are slowly being counted by hand. These are the kinds of measures that only begin to make sense if you assume someone with influence in our provincial government watches too much Fox News.

I wonder if our Minister of Red Tape Reduction has heard about all the new rules and restrictions implemented by his colleagues.