Well, today was the 2007 Ontario Provincial Election, and though voter turnout was light early on, things are expected to pick up as people show up to vote after their workday. Besides being a provincial election with all the usual major issues, there is another important decision facing voters – the referendum on whether to change the electoral system from the current first-past-the-post riding system to the mixed-member proportional system that’s being advocated.

Mixed-Member proportional would aim to have the number of seats a political party received be closer to the total number votes they received; in this way, the elected body would better represent the votes of the total population. However, this may present difficulties in geographically diverse areas, or areas where the population densities widely vary.

Overall, voting went well, at least in my electoral district. Though I recently moved and hadn’t received updated ID with my new address or a voter registration card, I was able to register to vote at the polling both using photo ID and a paystub made out to my new address. The process was pain-free. Additionally, the polling station was located in the lobby of my apartment, so not voting would’ve really been an affront to the electoral system, or an extreme bow to laziness on my part. I still don’t understand why some countries would want to use electronic voting, when here in Canada paper-voting has always been used and hopefully will continue to be used. Sometimes marking an ‘X’ on a piece of paper is just so simple that it works.

This is also the first time that candidates’ political parties are being listed on the ballet besides their names, something that strikes me as odd. Though, I guess you should be informed enough as to know which candidate represents what political party.