c23 – David Akin’s On The Hill

So here’s the conspiracy theory.

Chief Electoral Officer Marc Mayrand surely knows that the Harper government — and its majority in the House of Commons — has a dim view of his impartiality. Whether that view is deserved or not is not the issue: The fact is Conservatives believe Mayrand has improperly interpreted and unfairly applied Canada’s election laws. And Mayrand or anyone at Elections Canada would have to be blind, deaf and dumb not to know this.

And now, here comes that same government with a request last fall for his suggestions on how elections law ought to be changed.

Mayrand certainly knows that there would be a good chance that this government will not heed his recommendations and, in fact, may even try to diminish the power of his office. If that happens, his only recourse will be the court of public opinion. Continue reading The smartest money Marc Mayrand ever spent

State Senator Dale Schultz was a rare Republican who voted against the bill, saying the party was “fiddling with mechanics rather than ideas.”

“Making it more difficult for people to vote is not a good sign for a party that wants to attract more people,” he said.

The New York Times today has a long read about how U.S. conservatives– the Republican Party — is changing election laws in several states.

Read it here: New G.O.P. Bid to Limit Voting in Swing States – NYTimes.com.

Democrats argue the whole point of the changes is to make it more difficult for the type of people who tend to voter Democrat — lower-income Americans and Black Americans — to actually vote. Continue reading In the U.S., conservatives tighten election laws — in the name of efficiency