28 Days...

You've got 28 days to make up your mind about who to vote for. On April 23rd, 2012, Albertans will head to the polls. 

This time last year I was writing about the federal election. This year, my home province of Alberta is holding an election. And for the first time in a long time, the outcome is not set. The Progressive Conservative Party of Alberta has some stiff competition in the Wildrose Alliance. 28 days will tell us if voters will stick with what they know and have known for four decades. 28 days will tell us if voters are tired of the status quo and will decide to vote for change. Either way, this is shaping up to be a pretty exciting election. 

That being said, I'm going to try to work my way back into writing blog posts about my favourite past time: Democratic Duty :)

That's right folks. I look at voting as being a democratic duty every citizen has that comes with citizenship in a free, democratic society. Because we live in a democracy, we are given the chance to choose our leaders, our representatives, and the folks who go to work to speak for their constituents. It's not that tough of a duty. 

Pick up a newspaper or log on to your favourite news site in the next 28 days and there will be a boat load of articles on the election, the candidates, the parties, the scandals, etc. 

Alternatively, find the party websites and read their platforms yourself. That's one of the best ways to get your information without having it being processed through somebody's else's lens first. I'll be posting the party websites with every post I publish regarding the election so you can verify for yourself what I'm talking about. 

There's also Vote Compass, which will give you a survey of questions regarding issues and place you on a grid in comparison to the parties. It's not a perfect system, and there are some definite flaws, but it's better than nothing. 

After you've done some of this, you then get yourself to your polling station on April 23rd and you vote. Simple!

So without further ado, I give you my pledge for this election. Last time I did this I was too ambitious. School got in the way of me writing every day. So I'll take it a little easy this time around (I am trying to finish my Masters Degree after all). So I pledge to post at least three times a week with a review on specific issues pertaining to Alberta's provincial election. If you have a request, please leave me a comment and I'll try to do a post on it.

As a side note, I will try with all my might to keep these reviews as non-partisan as possible. It's going to be a lot easier for me to do this at a provincial level because I don't actually adhere to one party's platform in my province. I'll try to do this because I want you all to get a fair glimpse of what's going on in the province and because I hope to be working for the government after I graduate and I can't be overtly biased. 

So tune in later this week for my first issue review.

In the meantime, go to Elections Alberta's website to find all the information you need to know about the technicalities of voting (how to vote, where to vote, when to vote, etc). Also, if you're an Albertan who will be away from your polling station on election day, this website will let you know what options you have in order to have your vote counted (using a special ballot or advanced polling days).

Cheers!

Cait