Nottawa residents shafted by Elections Ontario

So this week, the crack news team at the Enterprise-Bulletin has been following up on this business of Nottawa residents having to traverse to Ravenna in order to exercise their democratic right. All for the sake of an inch, it seems. As we write in our editorial in today’s e-dish-un:

According to the standards, an entry door width should be at least 33 inches; Nottawa’s entranceway is 32 inches. However, it is our understanding the entranceway can be easily modified in order to meet the 33-inch minimum standard.

For the sake of an inch, Nottawa residents are being asked to drive 22 kilometres. That’s hardly accessible.

It gets even better, it seems. According to our sources, the initial decision to decline the school as a polling place, in spite of its suitability a scant five months ago for the federal campaign, was based on a photo.

And not just any photo: a photo of the old school, which sits on the other side of the hamlet from the new school, and is in a derelict state (afterall, it has been abandoned for the last 14 years).

I would hope that is nothing more than coffee-shop chatter. I find it hard to believe Elections Ontario would make such an important decision as locating the sole polling place for a community 30 minutes away based on looking at a photo of the wrong spot.

That would be completely ludicrous and irresponsible…