Guelph Student vote and Helena Guergis story

Yesterday, there was a controversy about the special ballots used at the University of Guelph so students could vote early.  The Tories wanted the ballots to be thrown out since it was not authorized by Elections Canada, there was partisan material inside the polling station, and they were not allowed to have a scrutineer there during the vote.  Others have accussed the Tory agent of disrupting the voting and attempting to grab the ballot box.  I don't know all the details so here is my opinion on what should have been done depending on the scenario.  Elections Canada promised to count these ballots, but not allow anymore of these type polls.  Low turnout amongst younger voters and the fact exams are occurring during advanced polling, while election day is when many are moving back home for the summer, I realize the difficulties in voting and applaud making efforts to make it easier for students to vote.  Still, I believe the polling station should be pre-authorized, there should be no partisan literature within 200m of the voting place, and all parties should be allowed to have a scrutineer present, however a party's failure to have a scrutineer not show up is not sufficient grounds to discount the votes.  Otherwise as long as parties are allowed to provide scrutineers, that is what matters.  If one isn't able to provide one, that is their problem.  Likewise disrupting the voting and trying to grab the ballot box is unacceptable as well.  If this did happen, the person who did it should be charged for violating the elections act.  If one thinks a poll is illegal, the proper response is to ask Elections Canada to investigate and if you don't like their response then challenge it in court.  Trying to disrupt the vote is not the proper way to deal with this.  Even had Elections Canada disqualified the votes at this ballot box, those who voted could still vote in advanced polls or on election day.  Also on election day if taking out this poll would have resulted in a different candidate winning the riding, I have no doubt that candidate will apply for a judicial recount or during the recount try to convince the judge to throw out the ballots from this poll.  I don't support voter suppression, but nor do I support illegal voting either.  I cannot say what the answer is here, but if any rules were broken, hopefully they are rectified and those who broke them are punished.

In the case of Helena Guergis, this is really old news.  I suspect she is doing this just to increase her chance of winning her own riding.  While I agree that she is not guilty of the things she is accussed of, it is important to understand that all parties have the right to remove an individual whom they don't want in their party.  At the end of the day it is up to the voters in the riding to decide if it was the right or wrong decision.  I have always supported the right of parties to expel members and I have also always supported the right of people to cross the floor to another party (which Guergis did not do).  At the end of the day the voters have the final say.  In the case of Scott Brison and Belinda Stronach, it looks like the voters agreed with their decision while for Garth Turner and Wajid Khan, it looks like they didn't.