Canadian law bans tweeting or Facebook posts about election results

Source: CBS

Say you love your local politician. You volunteered for them. You went to rallies for them. It's election night, and they have just won. You are thrilled and can't wait to share your excitement and the good news with your friends and family so, of course, you tweet about it.

Hold on now: Your tweet about the election may now be illegal -- at least if you live in Canada.

In anticipation for the Canadian elections which will be held on May 2, Elections Canada -- the official institution in charge of federal elections and referendums in Canada -- posted a warning to tweeters and other social media users on its website. "No person shall transmit the result or purported result of the vote in an electoral district to the public in another electoral district before the close of all of the polling stations in that other electoral district," they wrote.




Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504943_162-20056157-10391715.html#ixzz1KBsJAKeK

:shrug:

Basically you know the results of everything east of you. Polls are open at the same times in each time zone (8:30 Am to 8:30 PM in each time zone). When the polls close in Newfoundland (furthest east 30 minutes ahead of Atlantic time zone), only Newfoundlanders know the results. Then when polls close in the Atlantic time zone, People in Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, PEI, and New Brunswick find all the results to that time for that time zone and everything east ....where the polls are closed. Then polls close in Quebec and Ontario (Eastern Time Zone) and people in Ontario and east find out the results from all of the areas where the polls have closed..... etc...

It is not the fact that I might call my sister and tell her the results from here while the polls are still open where she is.....

The point is..it is meant to prevent a political machine from taking results where the polls are closed to influence results where the polls are open.

As an example.... what it is meant to stop ... example without the law: the Conservative machine would use results from the East to go to to voters in BC and saying, there is no need to vote Liberal, they have no chance of winning based on results in the East....Vote Conservative..... thus changing votes.....

That is what it is meant to avoid.

people that live west of Ontario get pissed when the elections are called before they even get a chance to go to the polls so they try to hold off on announcements until all the polls close.

Canada has a parlimentary system... it matters how many seats a party has, to determine who the governing party is, and the circumstances of that governing, that is, if it is a majority government or a minority government.

Based on the last election, at dissolution:

Conservative: 143
Liberal: 77
Bloq Quebecois: 47
NDP: 36
Green: 0
Independent: 2
Vacant: 3

Note: The total number of opposition seats (162) is more than that of the governing party (143 - Conservatives) = minority government

If The total number of opposition seats is less than that of the governing party = majority government

If people (political operatives) could use results from the east to influence votes in the west (when polls are closed in the east but open in the west) they could use that to influence votes and turn what would be a minority government into a majority government or vice versa......

we knew which party "won" because the election results came in from Ontario and Quebec, and the polls hadn't even closed yet in B.C.

it says before the polling districts all close. So you can still tweet about it after all the polls close. Do TV stations in Canada announce the results in the eastern sections before the western sections close? If they do then I don't see why one could not tweet about it. But if they do not report the results until the polls all close, I can see why there is concern.

This law has been in effect for decades and TV and Radio coverage of elections is why it was put in place. TV and Radio networks in areas where the polls are open have NO election coverage on TV or radio until the polls there are closed....period. Areas where the polls are closed know everything where the polls are closed (to the east of them).

With international media sure to be watching, with so many local stations posting video or audio on websites, With text based/internet media sources having access to their local news, and people on the other side of the country having access to the internet, do they have any realistic expectation of keeping the results under wraps?

Each TV network has 6 regional sub-networks. Basically, regular programming continues on a sub-network until the polls close in that time zone. There is a Newfoundland sub-network for Newfoundland. A Maritime sub-network for the Atlantic Time Zone (Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and PEI). A Sub-network for the Eastern Time Zone, A sub-network for the Central Time Zone, A sub-network for the Mountain Time Zone, and A sub-network for BC in the Pacific Time Zone. You will not find results posted on the internet until after the polls have clsed across Canada. Generally Canadians use TV for election results and each sub-network goes to election coverage as soon as the polls close in that time zone. It probably seems strange to Americans, but it actually works as planned in Canada. Probably the fact that's what 99% of Canadians want to have happen helps it work. Only radio staions carried on TV cable systems and there are quite a few have election results under the same law. You have to realize that Canada has 110% or so the area of the US, with 10% of the population. Canadians are much more isolated than Americans (fewer per square kilometer), but as connected by cable TV, and that probably help the law to work as well. I think it's about 9 Canadians per square kilometer, compared to about 74 Americans per square kilometer, when I say isolated.

We had our digital box set to Newfoundland CBC earlier in the day to tape an early showing of Coronation Street. That's where it was when we turned the TV on to watch election coverage. And there we were, getting Newfoundland results while the polls in Ontario were still open.

We watched, a big agog. And thought how clever we were with our secret stash of illegal election info. ;) (We'd already voted, of course.) Then we switched channels to look somewhere else ... and when we tried to go back to Nfld CBC, the signal was blocked. Not as clever as we thought.

We're going to try again this year of course.

I can't find anything on a quick search but there was some sort of sanction impoesd for a violation of this in the last election, and I think the CBC Nfld glitch may have been what it was.

...and I would expect 100% compliance too. O8)

What next no phone calls to your friends or family either? :(

They do have restrictions on speech, well beyond the "Fire! in a crowded theater" scenario.

It is not a restriction on speech at all....it is a law which prevents people using election results from the East to INFLUENCE THE VOTE by people pressuring voters in areas where the polls are still open by using those results to pressure them into voting a certain way. It is considered to be a potential way of perpetrating VOTER FRAUD....ILLEGAL INFLUENCE on the election by changing the way people vote. Do you want Canadians to meddle in American election laws and to tell you what election laws you should have? Really?

If you Americans want to allow Republican operatives in California in a national (i.e presidential) election to go to voters in California and saying, there's no need to vote for Obama, he's losing badly in Ohio, Kansas, Alabama etc etc.... and using those results to influence how people in California vote...... if you Americans want your voting distorted in that way, go ahead...., Apparently we Canadians want more integrity in our elections than you do....

There are a lot of values enshrined in our constitutional Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Individual fundamental rights and freedoms, like freedom of speech, are among them.

There are restrictions on the exercise of that right, well beyond the "fire in a crowded theatre" scenario, everywhere, INCLUDING THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

I believe you down there have laws against advertising snake oil as a cure for cancer; against lying under oath; against obscenity in broadcasting; and I could go on.

The values enshrined in our Charter also include democracy and, for instance, the right to a fair trial.

That latter right is why you will find bans on publication of evidence from pre-trial hearings in this country. Not because we're a monstrous authoritarian country, but because we believe in the right to a fair trial and the need to protect it by not influencing potential jurors, for example, before trial. This is obviously in the public interest as well as the individual's interest, that it be possible to try people for crimes and not have prosecutions stayed because a fair trial is not possible.

The weight placed on the value of democracy, and the individual and public interest in elections not being influenced in this way, is why this restriction is imposed.

In the US, are polling results broadcast throughout election day, based on cumulative totals in each polling district? Why not? You have those machine thingies; it would be a simple thing to convey the cumulative totals, minute by minute, to the media, so they could tell people how the election was going.

I guess there must be some kind of restriction on speech at work there.

His comment demonstrates that distortion and paranoid conspiracy theories are no limited to Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh.....Even supposed Democrats like this guy love creating the same types of distortions and paranoid conspiracy theories about Canada, after all, Canadians are un-American, aren't we? We definitely are...........

What it really is would be a microscopic restriction on speech balanced against a vastly fairer election.

Americans like you seem willing to let results in the East be used by political operatives to twist the arms of voters in areas where the polls are still open, to try to change the way they are going to vote. We Canadians willingly trade a microscopic restriction on speech (as only you Americans think of it, Canadians don't) for a fair election.

It has always been illegal to distribute election results from an area where the polls have closed and results are available and transmit them to an area where the polls are still open, and to use those results to influence people in areas where the polls are still open. That is Canadian law and what Canadians want.

Have you noticed how touchy some Americans get when Canadians question American beliefs, American law, and American systems (especially guns, health care, banks...etc)?

Say that Canadians laugh about the American gun fet***, and think it makes the US a 19th century nation.... like I did yesterday, and see how touchy Americans get.....

Say that Canadians laugh about the American health care system, with 100% of Canadians guaranteed the health care they need, while 38% of Americans can't even see a physician, let alone get treatment of any kind, and that 45,000 Americans a year die from lack of adequate health care in the US, and that they'd be alive if they were Canadians ...... and see how touchy Americans get.....

Say that over 300 American banks have failed since January 1, 2008 and NO Canadian banks have failed since the end of the Great Depression, and that TD (Toronto Dominion Bank) has taken over Ameritrade and that the Boston Bruins play at the TD Gardens ... and see how touchy Americans get....

You are pointing to Canadian law, as it has been for decades, and how Canadians want it.... Do you really want us to interfere in your laws and your beliefs now? If so, it's a change..............

I can see the point of this particular law being discussed. It doesn't infringe on free speech, just makes you wait until an appropriate time.

The point is it's meant to prevent results in the East changing and distorting the votes of people in the West.

Which is why, in Canada, results in the east are not able to be used to influence voters in the west while the polls are still open in the west and closed and results known in the east.

might ...... grrrrrr!

I don't think that Harper's American Republican wannabe party will come anywhere near a majority and may even have to give way to a Liberal-NDP coalition. The NDP may be making huge gains in Quebec, and may well take a lot of seats from the Bloc Quebecois.