Quebec student: ‘Classic voter suppression tactic is going on’

MONTREAL – Malory Beazley’s quest to get on the Quebec electoral roll was a two-day process.

She brought her passport, a Hydro-Quebec bill, and a lease to the polling station in her home riding of Mercier, but said that she was turned away the first time.

The Concordia University film student was asked to satisfy proof that she intended to stay in Quebec, and was not allowed on the first day.

“It was pretty disheartening,” she said. “Because I am originally from Nova Scotia and I’m trying hard to integrate into Quebec society, I’d like to stay in Montreal. And I just feel really unwelcome right now.”

She managed to get on the voter rolls the next day when she supplied a tax return.

Beazley’s case is due to one of the most hotly contested parts of Quebec election law.

In order to be eligible to vote, a voter must be a Canadian citizen who is 18 or older. But a voter must prove he or she has been “domiciled” in Quebec for at least six months, and proving that is not cut-and-dry. A driver’s licence, hydro bill or health card could all be insufficient as evidence someone meets the criteria.

READ MORE: PQ vow not to let Ontario students decide election outcome

“This is not as easy as putting a mathematical formula on the board — you put numbers on the x and the y and you have the result at the end,” said Denis Dion, a spokesperson for the Directeur General des Elections du Quebec. A voter’s “intentions” to stay in the province can also be factored in.

If an elections worker has a doubt, they can keep a potential voter off the rolls. This is exactly what happened to Sean Beatty, a McGill graduate student who has lived in Quebec for more than five years and recorded his second encounter at the DGE office in his riding of St-Henri.

READ MORE: McGill student secretly records exchange with Quebec election officials

“We’ve been loaded up with English students like yourself who are trying to register,” a woman is heard saying on his recording.

“They’re erring on the side of disenfranchising voters instead of helping our democracy flourish,” Beatty said in a telephone interview.

Ilona Dougherty, the co-founder of Apathy is Boring, a voter advocacy group, said that the integrity of this election could be endangered by polarizing rhetoric.

“The topic of trying to register to vote has become quite political,” she said, adding that these sorts of issues didn’t exist in 2012. “I just hope that everyone has the integrity of the electoral process in mind.”

READ MORE: Come prepared when registering to vote in Quebec: Apathy Is Boring

For Beazely, the process of successfully getting on the voter rolls has been an eye-opening experience.

“Most of us want to be here just as much as everyone else,” she said. I feel like the classic voter suppression tactic is going on.”