Vancouver lawyer Jim Quail has announced the launching of a Charter challenge to new federal voting laws requiring official identity documentation in order to cast a ballot. Quail is the Executive Director of the BC Public Interest Advocacy Centre, which represents two individual voters and four community organizations named in the challenge.
“Even if you are on the voters’ list, the new rules mean that you can’t vote unless you have approved ID documentation in your pocket when you get to the polls,” said Quail. “You need to produce government-issued photo ID with your current address. The only widely-held ID that fits those requirements is a driver’s license.” A passport is issued without the citizen’s address printed on it, and would not qualify.
Voters without government photo ID with their current address would have to either cobble together two acceptable pieces of approved official documentation, or bring another voter to vouch for them.
“The new rules about vouching for another voter are so narrow that they are no solution at all for many voters,” noted Quail.
“The former Chief Electoral Officer, Jean-Pierre Kingsley, was quoted in The Hill Times, on March 5th, 2007, estimating that about five percent of voters will run into trouble under the new rules, which came into effect in June,” said Quail. “Around 14 million Canadians voted in the last federal election. Five percent of that number is around 700,000 citizens potentially being denied ballots.”
Quail noted that if you don’t have a driver’s license, or if you have recently changed addresses, you are far more likely to lose the right to vote. “If you show up at the polls near closing time and didn’t bring acceptable documentation, you will lose the right to vote. If you don’t have the right documentation and you have limited mobility due to age or disability, you are likely to lose the right to vote. If you are homeless and therefore have no home address to record on a document, you cannot vote. If you live in a rural area where homes are not assigned addresses, like many rural First Nations communities, you will not be able to vote.”
The challenge is based on section 3 of the Charter, which protects the right of citizens to vote in Parliamentary elections. The case will be heard in BC Supreme Court in Vancouver.
For more information please contact Jim Quail at (604) 687-3063.