This week, like about 14 million other Canadians, I walked down to my local voting place, registration card in hand, and cast my ballot in Canada's 41st general election.
I don't mind leaving the house to do this. It was a nice walk, even in the rain.
I was welcomed into the high-school gymnasium by a friendly face who checked the number on my card and directed me to a table where two women greeted me warmly. I produced my identification, and my name was crossed off a list with a pen and ruler while a severe looking scrutineer, clip board in hand, looked over the shoulders of the election helpers. I was pointed to a flimsy cardboard blind, behind which I marked my X with a stubby pencil.
After one of the women tore off a tab, I pushed the ballot halfway into the slot of the ballot box, let it rest for a moment, then with a satisfying tap, I was counted.
When it comes to voting in a civic election, the process is much the same, except that the ballots are larger, and they are consumed by machines that tally the votes immediately and store the information to be counted later.
This week, Vancouver City Council voted to change that - or to at least take a step toward changing it, with a pilot project. The motion passed by council still needs provincial approval, but if it goes ahead, voters in advance polls in this November's municipal election will be able to cast their ballots online, from the comfort of their homes.
In a report to council, city staff say based on the experience in other jurisdictions, allowing people to vote online will result in a higher voter turnout, especially among seniors and young people.
This is good news, since the last two civic elections in Vancouver saw a turnout of just over 30 per cent of eligible voters.
The report also outlines some of the potential pitfalls of online voting. It warns that people might be coerced into voting one way or another by those around them. It also says voter packages and identification numbers could be stolen, hackers or viruses could alter the results, and that servers could crash.
But it's not the potential security breaches that have put me off the idea of online voting. Computer systems of all kinds have fallen to hackers, and still I pay my bills and manage bank accounts online. I buy plane tickets and occasionally shop online, I even store computer data remotely so I can access my documents and files from multiple computers. I know my iPhone is tracking me everywhere I go, and frankly I don't give a damn.
The Premier of the province and the Leader of the Opposition were both chosen by a combination of online and telephone voting. And yes, there were problems with personal identification numbers in the case of the former, but no one is suggesting that Christy Clark has taken office illegitimately.
For me, casting a ballot to decide who will represent me in Ottawa is a serious issue. It carries weight. Believe me, I know exactly how hokey that sounds, especially given the fact that 61 per cent of voters chose a party that wasn't the Conservative Party of Canada, and yet the Conservatives will form a majority government for the next four years. That's a whole other column.
I do think that voting deserves more ceremony than a Facebook status update, and more attention than even the cleverest tweet.
And I know, a cardboard box is hardly a model of security compared to the PIN-activated encrypted double-password CAPTCHA-secured site the city will no doubt set up for people to vote online.
But when I vote now, there is a trail of actual paper. From the voters' list, to my registration card, to my ballot, to the stub that was torn away before I cast it into that cheap cardboard box.
I communicate with humans - people from my neighbourhood, people who make eye contact with me. Voting should carry with it a sense of occasion; there should be some sort of ceremony involved. Even if that ceremony is just a walk in the rain.
Stephen Quinn is the host of On the Coast on CBC Radio One, 690 AM and 88.1 FM in Vancouver.