Ratsofrass

Today is voting day in Alberta, for your local representatives to town and school. I’m pleased to report a huge turnout at my local polling station. According to one of the ballot minders I queried, it has been nutz all day. He figured if our polling station was typical, there was going to be a record turnout this time around for a City of Calgary election.

I’m not surprised the turnout was better – there was contradictory polls for who was going to win mayor, Ward Boundary changes, several councilors not running, at least two slates of candidates I knew of, and the bombshell issue dropped by the Flames on not getting an arena deal done, not that that had anything to do with the election going on… But even with all that, there were a lot of people out there – seems perhaps the combination of factors stirred a lot of butts off of the couch to go down to their polling station.

I was even torn on who to vote for councilor – I knew I wasn’t interested in my inherited incumbent, who in my opinion “mailed in” his campaign, and seems to share a different set of priorities from myself. But the choice was difficult – at least there were two good candidates to pick from – some of the bottom feeders seem unlikely to be able to run a food truck, much less a city. I had to pull additional data at the last minute in the form of who got the most signs out on lawns and around the ward. It’s not the worst way to gauge a candidate – you know they have a combination of support, organization and resources if they have lots of signs out. That is not always a plus, but when I’m trying to gauge if my potential choice might win, it’s definitely a factor in favor.

As always, it was a privilege to vote and frankly “voting day” is one of the few “days” I give a damn about; most of the rest being excuses for a day off or to buy, buy, buy! I hope you voted, but if you didn’t let me tell you I made sure to vote so you have that choice come next election.