New Law Lets Canadians Blog And Tweet Election Results

Bowing to the reality of modern technology, Canada said it is changing a 1938 law that forbids broadcasting election results before polls close. This means no more fines like the one levied in 2000 against a Vancouver man who blogged about election results he obtained by satellite from the eastern part of the country. The purpose of the news black-out was to ensure that election reports from the east didn’t distort voting intentions in the west. It would be like forcing CNN to hold off reporting on the outcome of New York’s presidential vote until the polls closed in California. Americans might find the law ridiculous or a free speech violation but the Canadian Supreme Court upheld it in 2007, saying the law had an overall positive effect that justified the speech restrictions.