Article on why No Canada Election Results until 10 PM EST

[RobertSeattle]

http://www.cbc.ca/canadavotes/why10.html

By law, on election night, Canadian news organizations aren't allowed to publish results to any part of the country in which the polls are still open.

Because CBC.ca is available everywhere, we can't publish results until 10 p.m. EST (7:00 p.m. PST), when the polls close in British Columbia and the Yukon. It also means all live radio streaming for CBC Radio One and Two, normally available 24/7 on CBC.ca, will stop at 7 p.m. EST, when the polls close in Newfoundland and results start to come in, and won't resume until 10 p.m.

This is different than the last federal election. In June 2004, all Canadian media organizations – including CBC.ca – were legally allowed to publish results across the country as soon as they became available. That's because the B.C. Supreme Court, prior to that election, had struck down the results ban.

But in May 2005, the B.C. Court of Appeal reversed the lower court's decision and upheld the ban. A group of news companies, including the CBC, filed a motion earlier this month asking the Supreme Court of Canada to suspend the ban for this election, until an appeal of the reversal could be heard. The court rejected that motion, so the ban stands. The Supreme Court of Canada will probably rule on the appeal before the next federal election.

[KingFlorez]

1. It should be that way here

No results until all the polls close, because it can cause confusion.

[tuvor]

2. I'm all for it.

We in the west have little federal representation compared to Ontario and Quebec. It may be only psychological, but in days past, when you could know who the winning party would be before you had even headed out to cast your vote, well, it made people here feel as if their own voices didn't matter.

[RobertSeattle]

3. Would be interesting?

The time difference between east coast and Hawaii is 5 or six hours depending on the time of the year. It would drive the cable networks crazy.

[tuvor]

4. I never considered Hawaii.

You're quite right!

[RobertSeattle]

5. Don't remind me... we were in Kauai for the 2004 election results

My wife and I voted absentee. Had an amazing vacation, except for the last day... We were scheduled to return on Wednesday, the day after election. So we got to watch Kerry's concession speech in Paradise...

[SoCalDem]

7. The cable networks would get over it.. They could always

get Rita out there and rehash the missing girl stories of the year..

[Selatius]

6. You couldn't have put it in better words, tuvor

I wish the US had such a ban in place.

[phoebe]

8. remember the consortium of US media that interfered in the 2000 election

exit polling results? Anyone??? Voter News Service???

"to avoid repeating the mistakes of 2000, the networks have replaced the Voter News Service - a consortium of media outlets that conducted the exit polling and vote counting - with a new system called the National Election Pool."