Tuesday, June 20, 2017

Verifed: hijabs permitted at provincial voting in BC

How do I know this? Experience. I worked for Elections BC this year. At training our supervisor told us that if a woman presents herself in such a garment as a hijab or burka a female would take her aside to verify her identity. That mature gentleman who answered my question was replaced. I never saw him again, least of all on work day. Co-incidence? Too bad an overly-enthusiastic staff member discarded my papers with his number scribbled on it.

On voting day I verified with the new supervisor about such circumstances presenting themselves. No. We do not even verify gender. If a person has ID and they say who they are we accept that regardless of what appears to be the case. We err on the side of encouraging people to vote.

I think this is imprudent.