Voting during provincial elections as PR

[Scryden]

Not sure if this is posted in the right forum, but I don't quite know where else to turn to ask this question.

Yesterday on May 29th we had the provincial elections in Alberta. I have been a PR since 2018. Elections Alberta had mailed me a voter pass to my home address. I am the only person living on my address. So I went to the polling station and cast my vote.

Discussing the election today with a colleague at work, he notified me that only citizens were eligible to vote. I am only a PR. When I went to the polling station this did not even go through my mind, because after all I was issued a voter pass and normally you don't get a pass if you're not eligible??? Why else would I been issued a pass if I wasn't eligible?

My colleague was unsure of any repercussions but I am starting to panic a little bit. Does anyone know of any consequences? I have a career and own property here, so I did not purposely put that all at risk. I don't mind stepping forward to some authority to admit my mistake if that's a thing. Just not sure what to do now or what to expect.

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Besram]

Your colleague is correct, but this is the extent of the information I can provide:
https://www.elections.ab.ca/voters/who-can-vote/

This is probably not the right forum for this question as it's a very specific situation. Would recommend you search the internet to get more information. If you're seriously concerned, speak with a lawyer to understand potential repercussions and the best way forward to minimise them.

 

[canuck78]

Not sure if this is posted in the right forum, but I don't quite know where else to turn to ask this question.

Yesterday on May 29th we had the provincial elections in Alberta. I have been a PR since 2018. Elections Alberta had mailed me a voter pass to my home address. I am the only person living on my address. So I went to the polling station and cast my vote.

Discussing the election today with a colleague at work, he notified me that only citizens were eligible to vote. I am only a PR. When I went to the polling station this did not even go through my mind, because after all I was issued a voter pass and normally you don't get a pass if you're not eligible??? Why else would I been issued a pass if I wasn't eligible?

My colleague was unsure of any repercussions but I am starting to panic a little bit. Does anyone know of any consequences? I have a career and own property here, so I did not purposely put that all at risk. I don't mind stepping forward to some authority to admit my mistake if that's a thing. Just not sure what to do now or what to expect.

Any help would be appreciated.

Very unlikely to have severe repercussions so don’t get too upset.

 

[scylla]

Not sure if this is posted in the right forum, but I don't quite know where else to turn to ask this question.

Yesterday on May 29th we had the provincial elections in Alberta. I have been a PR since 2018. Elections Alberta had mailed me a voter pass to my home address. I am the only person living on my address. So I went to the polling station and cast my vote.

Discussing the election today with a colleague at work, he notified me that only citizens were eligible to vote. I am only a PR. When I went to the polling station this did not even go through my mind, because after all I was issued a voter pass and normally you don't get a pass if you're not eligible??? Why else would I been issued a pass if I wasn't eligible?

My colleague was unsure of any repercussions but I am starting to panic a little bit. Does anyone know of any consequences? I have a career and own property here, so I did not purposely put that all at risk. I don't mind stepping forward to some authority to admit my mistake if that's a thing. Just not sure what to do now or what to expect.

Any help would be appreciated.

You are not eligible to vote. Only citizens can legally vote.

I would recommend contacting the province and having your name removed from the voting registry.

I'm not aware of any real repercussions. It would be different if you were in the US but fortunately you did this in Canada.

 

[Ponga]

Not sure if this is posted in the right forum, but I don't quite know where else to turn to ask this question.

Yesterday on May 29th we had the provincial elections in Alberta. I have been a PR since 2018. Elections Alberta had mailed me a voter pass to my home address. I am the only person living on my address. So I went to the polling station and cast my vote.

Discussing the election today with a colleague at work, he notified me that only citizens were eligible to vote. I am only a PR. When I went to the polling station this did not even go through my mind, because after all I was issued a voter pass and normally you don't get a pass if you're not eligible??? Why else would I been issued a pass if I wasn't eligible?

My colleague was unsure of any repercussions but I am starting to panic a little bit. Does anyone know of any consequences? I have a career and own property here, so I did not purposely put that all at risk. I don't mind stepping forward to some authority to admit my mistake if that's a thing. Just not sure what to do now or what to expect.

Any help would be appreciated.

Was the voter pass addressed to you personally? If it WAS, it would seem to work to your advantage, whereas if it was simply addressed to `occupant', or similar it may not.

 

[Scryden]

Was the voter pass addressed to you personally? If it WAS, it would seem to work to your advantage, whereas if it was simply addressed to `occupant', or similar it may not.

It was addressed to "The residents of". I own my house so it couldn't have been going to a landlord and I am the only person living at the address.

I ended up calling Elections Alberta and they just removed me from the list. I inquired about legal repercussions and the lady told me "don't sweat it. You won't get arrested".
What a relief... and yes I read the horror stories about the US of people getting deported out of the country so that sparked my panic reaction.

 

[scylla]

It was addressed to "The residents of". I own my house so it couldn't have been going to a landlord and I am the only person living at the address.

I ended up calling Elections Alberta and they just removed me from the list. I inquired about legal repercussions and the lady told me "don't sweat it. You won't get arrested".
What a relief... and yes I read the horror stories about the US of people getting deported out of the country so that sparked my panic reaction.

The US has very different rules than Canada.

As you've said, doing this in the US has potentially life altering consequences - specifically, claiming that you are a US citizen when you are not is a lifetime inadmissibility ban.

We are way more chill about this here.

On the other hand, a DUI in the US doesn't jeopardize your green card status. Very different in Canada.

Different countries, different things we lose our marbles about when it comes to immigration law.

 

[YVR123]

It was addressed to "The residents of". I own my house so it couldn't have been going to a landlord and I am the only person living at the address.

I ended up calling Elections Alberta and they just removed me from the list. I inquired about legal repercussions and the lady told me "don't sweat it. You won't get arrested".
What a relief... and yes I read the horror stories about the US of people getting deported out of the country so that sparked my panic reaction.

Yes. You are fine.
I don't think the US horror stories apply to Canada.

 

[Scryden]

Ok, thanks everyone! Now I can rest easy

 

[canuck78]

It was addressed to "The residents of". I own my house so it couldn't have been going to a landlord and I am the only person living at the address.

I ended up calling Elections Alberta and they just removed me from the list. I inquired about legal repercussions and the lady told me "don't sweat it. You won't get arrested".
What a relief... and yes I read the horror stories about the US of people getting deported out of the country so that sparked my panic reaction.

Saw some of the ridings were very close. Would be a good idea to try to alert the riding and elections Canada in those specific ridings especially if you voted UCP. I haven’t paid attention if there are recounts in the tight races. You voted in good faith not trying to sabotage an election and also contacted elections Alberta. There is still a little bit of sanity left in Canada.

 

[steaky]

Saw some of the ridings were very close. Would be a good idea to try to alert the riding and elections Canada in those specific ridings especially if you voted UCP. I haven’t paid attention if there are recounts in the tight races. You voted in good faith not trying to sabotage an election and also contacted elections Alberta. There is still a little bit of sanity left in Canada.

Why do they need to alert the riding and elections Canada? Isn't it their responsibility to ensure voters meet their eligibility to vote? Go alert them if you voted the Liberals in the last election.

 

[canuck78]

Why do they need to alert the riding and elections Canada? Isn't it their responsibility to ensure voters meet their eligibility to vote? Go alert them if you voted the Liberals in the last election.

Yes it is their responsibility as well although I have actually never seen anyone verify that you are a citizen if you show up with a voting card sent to your property without a name on it. In tight races that may be audited it would be in this person’s best interest to come forward and identify that they didn’t qualify to vote. Much worse to be identified after the fact for having voted when you weren‘t entitled to. Of course this always have to come back to Trudeau. In most ridings a candidate didn’t win by a few votes so if a few people voted by accident when they weren’t entitled to vote it wouldn’t have made a difference. If tons of “woke” people are voting when they aren’t entitled to vote the Liberals wouldn’t have a minority government.

 

[Tubsmagee]

I'm not aware of any real repercussions. It would be different if you were in the US but fortunately you did this in Canada.

Too right. There would be potential for jail sentence here in U.S., even for a citizen who lost eligibility to vote (felon on parole).

 

[scylla]

Too right. There would be potential for jail sentence here in U.S., even for a citizen who lost eligibility to vote (felon on parole).

It's actually not a jail sentence that I was referring to as the big risk in the US. Voting as a green card holder means you've falsely claimed to be a US citizen. Falsely claiming US citizenship carries a lifetime ban from the US.

 

[Tubsmagee]

It's actually not a jail sentence that I was referring to as the big risk in the US. Voting as a green card holder means you've falsely claimed to be a US citizen. Falsely claiming US citizenship carries a lifetime ban from the US.

Thats is bad as well.