Can you imagine a scenario where an election is conducted in secret, without a shared voter list and no clearly defined method to become a voter? It sounds like a third world dictatorship, but in fact, it is the process by which we will select Alberta’s next premier.
In campaigns, there are safeguards put in place to ensure the sanctity of the process. In the PC Party leadership campaign, these safeguards have been all but ignored.
The first safeguard is to verify each individual purchasing a membership wants the membership and is paying for it individually.
Obviously, with the admission by the Prentice campaign that they are actively giving out memberships, we can no longer count on each member being legitimate. One person could sign up a family or even a community. All it takes is money. And Team Prentice has lots of money.
The second safeguard is a complete voters list provided to all participants in the election. Again, the PC Party is not completing this fundamental step.
Each campaign is only getting information about members they themselves signed up. So, if one campaign decided to hand out free memberships, the other campaigns have no opportunity to review the list for anomalies or question the legitimacy of dubious memberships. This also deprives members of the opportunity to learn about other candidates, a slap in the face of democracy.
And finally, the most important safeguard of them all is to allow scrutineers from each campaign in the room when votes are being cast, counted and tabulated. And, unbelievably, the PC Party is not doing this either.
Representatives from Meyers Norris Penny (MNP) will be supervising the vote, but can they actively advocate for all three campaigns? The answer is no.
Don’t get me wrong, MNP is well respected, but for a campaign to be fair, it must be seen to be fair by all who participate in the process.
This process cannot, by any reasonable observer, be seen to be fair. And the PC Party must take steps to fix it.
