When my partner Adèle, unable to get around because of knee replacement surgery, filled out her ballot at home, no one came around to see if she was wearing a niqab or other face covering.  Perhaps the matter was overlooked.  The bill forbidding voting while wearing a face covering is now moving through Canada’s House of Commons. Prior to three federal by-elections in Quebec this fall, members of a Parliamentary committee grilled Marc Mayrand, Canada’s Chief Electoral Officer, trying to pressure him into prohibiting niqab-wearing women from voting.  He refused because there was no legal basis for such action.  However, in reaction to the hullabaloo, 70 people voted in the by-elections while wearing face-coverings — in one case a pumpkin.  Apparently, no one showed up with a niqab. The non-issue of the niqab in voting has gotten such traction that all parties in the House ganged up on Mayrand, who bravely stood his ground.  Conservative House Leader Peter Van Loan defended the new bill, arguing that it is necessary because people are starting to “ridicule the rules that are in place for an election.”  Perhaps the next serious challenge to the sacred ballot will occur when people show up to vote while naked. Some MPs are finally beginning to ask questions about this hysteria. One Liberal thinks his party may have acted hastily on the issue, and another questions whether the bill would violate religious freedom.  Bloc Québécois members think that the provision that a niqab-wearer would have to show her face to a female election officer was problematic, as there might not be one at the polling place. In any case, the bill appears certain to pass.  The socialist New Democratic Party is giving the Conservatives support on the issue, guaranteeing enough votes to supply a majority for it.