Long term expats find ‘loophole’ in voting ban; but casting ballot costly

A loophole or a test of commitment? Or both?

However, the method costs money, travel, and time, prompting some to argue the rules have effectively made their right to vote subject to financial ability.

“Voting should not be something you must purchase,” said Natalie Chabot Roy, 38, who was raised in northern Ontario but lives in Bonney Lake, Wash.

Earlier this year, the government successfully appealed a court ruling that would have allowed Canadians abroad for more than five years to keep on voting by way of a mailed “special ballot”.

Nevertheless, at least one enterprising expat has already cast his ballot for the Oct. 19 election under another section of the Canada Elections Act that amounts to a barely accessible backdoor around the ban, and others are considering following suit.

That section allows expats who show up in the riding in which they lived before leaving Canada to vote — if they show proof of the former residency along with accepted identification.

….Last week, Elections Canada finally updated its website to confirm the little-known voting information, even though spokesman, John Enright, said it was “not a new position.”

The law barring long-term expats from voting has been on the books since 1993, but it was only in 2008 that Elections Canada began enforcing the rules, catching some Canadians abroad by surprise.

One was former Montrealer Nicolas Duchastel de Montrouge, 43, who went to the U.S. in 2000 for work and now lives in suburban Seattle. The ballot refusal in 2011 prompted him to delve into the rules, where he discovered what he called the “loophole.”

In a letter to the self-described political junkie last month, a senior Elections Canada official confirmed his right to vote — if he could show up in Hull, Que. — where he was “ordinarily resident”, before leaving Canada.

Source: Long term expats find ‘loophole’ in voting ban; but casting ballot costly