I Didn't Vote

I feel bad.  I really do.  I did not vote in today's Federal Election.   It's not because I'm apathetic about who leads our country, or because there is no legitimate choice for Canadians.  It all came down to logistics and impossibilities.

Now, some of the logistic issues are my own.  I choose to live in Costa Rica, a country with a horrible mail system.  I choose to be a teacher, which means that while I am working, everything is open, and when I'm not working, no one else is either.  I took my one day off, a national holiday here, and sought out the Canadian Embassy.  I filled out the application to vote, and the kind lady faxed it to Ottawa right away.  The transmission went through, and Ottawa confirmed they received it.  I had used the embassy's address to send the ballot parcel to, as my street address is bizarre, so there should be no problem receiving the mail.

I was wrong.

The parcel was never sent.  You see, I don't know the land location of my parents' farm.  A rural route number or a box number do not suffice.  It didn't matter that I knew my riding by name and put that on the application.  I received an email from Elections Canada on Easter Saturday stating that I had two days to provide, IN WRITING, proof of my address in Canada.  I hadn't anticipated this, so didn't have any of my bills from home, nor anything with the land location on it, and my parents were away...and the biggest thing?  Even if I jumped through the hoops, Elections Canada had waited so long to contact me that there was no way under Heaven for a parcel, even an envelope to reach me in time for me to send it back in time for it to be counted today.  It was logistically impossible.

Could I have registered early?  I tried online, but the website told me there was no Federal Election called.  The next time, it refused to recognize anything I entered.  It cost me a good $20 to get to the Embassy and back.  I tried, I really did.

The only thing to do now is to register completely when I come home.  Who knows?  We may have to do this again within a year.  Sigh.