Real-world elections are messier than you think
Both public opinion and the academic understanding of our electoral processes, especially here in Canada, has been slowly drifting away from the realities of real-world election administration. I think this is in part due to a sort of nationalistic pride Canadians have in their own democracy; Elections Canada is (justifiably) well trusted, and has its processes down to a fine science when it comes to administering traditional paper ballot elections. It’s easy to think we have it good when elections elsewhere in the world hinge on international observers scrutinizing the process, as their officials cannot even be trusted to be independent from the sitting government. But elections can only be so bulletproof due to a factor most academics miss: the people working them.
One recent area where this conflict in understanding clashed was the Supreme Court case in Terrebonne, which invalidated an entire by-election due to a clerical error made on 40 special ballot kits. This case surprised me (and some of my collegues) familiar with previous case law regarding election challenges: clerical errors are expected to a degree, and are even statistically accounted for.
