Gemma Rex @Gemma@polyglot.city

@Gemma Words cannot express what a colossal waste of time this election has been. I literally don't understand what we just did.

That's all.

@Gemma I registered for the mail-in ballot and had voted weeks before the advance polls. I worked the final day of voting, Sept. 20.

I really don't know what I can say about the harassment I witnessed from supervisors, but I know that this election resulted in pretty much the same portions of those 338 going to the exact same parties. Turnout was a record low. Wait times were long. (cont'd)

@Gemma Our last federal election was in 2019. The Prime Minister called a snap election at the end of summer. Two years early. Our very first federal pandemic election.

Elections Canada did not promote mail-in ballots sufficiently. The deadline to register for mailing in your ballot was Sept. 14. Many voters did not even know that was an option. Advance polls were Sept. 10-13. (cont'd)

@Gemma Thirty days is not very much time to hold ralllies and go door-to-door. In the U.S., you typically have a couple of years to learn about your candidates and parties (and spill tea on them).

We have 338 ridings across the nation, and we use a first-past-the-post system that is honestly abhorrent from a mathematical and ethical perspective but that's another story. (cont'd)

This election has been such a bloody mess. I don't even know where to start.

For those outside Canada: we have a parliamentary system. We don't hold a federal election every four years on the dot. That's usually the practice, but the Prime Minister has the power to just dissolve Parliament and call a snap election whenever it suits them.

Our campaigning period is extremely short, lasting about 30 days. (cont'd)

Trying to stay reasonably positive while my co-host is struggling with psychosis. Ensuring he's as stable as possible and getting his needs met is really important right now, even if it means I don't leave our bedroom for a few days.

In a turn no one could have seen coming, deaths quintupled

I don't have words. What