No Rest For The Wicked (Or The Voters)

Well, my inside sources in the Alberta political scene tell me that the writ to call a provincial election will be dropped today, with the proclamations officially setting the date getting issued on Monday. With a mandated twenty-eight day campaign, that puts election day as Monday, 22 November. It's a virtual certainty that we'll be going to the polls in November, given the bad weather from December through Februaryish, and that holding it much later starts to cut into Her Majesty's comfort level for remaining non-partisan (she won't visit shortly before or after an election, and she's scheduled to drop by for centennial celebrations over the summer).

For the past few months, the speculation's been mainly about whether the election will be on the 22nd (the day after the Grey Cup game), or on the 29th (starting to push bad weather). The main reason for going on the 29th was concern that the Esks might make it into the Cup and win, leaving voters province-wide with massive hangovers. Apparently, the government's decided that this scenario's unlikely.

Not only do we get to elect MLAs, but we also get to vote for Senate nominees: there are four spots up for grabs, but unfortunately, you need to be eligible for the Senate in order to run — ruling me out! The Senate writ (PDF) was dropped back in late September, with the date for election fixed as that of the next general election.

Things are going to get interesting around here, and with three elections in five months (federal in June, municipal this week, and provincial next month), will voters be fatigued? Only time will tell....