Rules of Voting

Hey, everyone!  And, to all my Canadian friends out there, Happy Election Day!

Yes, today is the day that we get to make our voices heard, today's the day we get to have our say in who we want in office, and today's the day that those election ads will FINALLY disappear!

Sorry, America...you still have to wait until November.  Of next year.

So, in Canada, we have four choices to choose from.  Stephen Harper of the Conservative Party, Elizabeth May of the Green Party, Thomas Mulcair of the New Democratic Party, and Justin Trudeau of the Liberal Party.  And, as of 10:45 this morning, my vote has been cast.

Now, I don't believe it's in good taste to reveal the person who I support in this election (and by support, I mean electing our own local constituents), but I will say that I think my country could use a little bit of change.  That's all I'll say about it though.

The truth is, this time around it has been hard for me to pick a candidate.  Usually, it's fairly obvious who I want to vote for, but this year has been very difficult.  Just when I think I made my mind up, something happened that made me switch my way of thinking.  I'm sure I'm not alone.  After all, this has been the longest campaign period in well over half a century.  There certainly was a lot of time to debate what person I wanted to support.

So, while there is still time to cast your vote (polls close at 9:30pm), I thought I'd give you all a few rules to consider when casting your vote.

1.  Do NOT mark an X next to every candidate.  Spoiled ballots help nobody, and make everybody consider raising the voting age to 35.

2.  Do NOT let negative ads prevent you from casting a ballot, and don't get suckered into the "vote for the lesser of four evils" philosophy.  Just vote for the candidate that does the least negative polling.  I did.

3.  Voting is NOT like Survivor.  Don't use strategy when voting for a person.  There's a good chance your strategy could lead to your favourite candidate getting their torches snuffed.  Vote with your heart.

And finally...

4.  VOTE!  You can't make a difference if you don't have your say!  Remember, there was once a time in which certain groups of people weren't ALLOWED to vote.  Don't take it for granted!