Sgt. Christopher Harris is one of many Calgarian soldiers who won't get to vote on Oct. 18. (Photo courtesy Janet McLeod)

CALGARY - They're supplied with the bullets and rifles to defend democracy, but not the ballots to take part in elections back home.

If anyone should be marking an 'X' on Oct.18, it's the hundreds of Alberta soldiers serving in Afghanistan, risking snipers and bombs to establish democracy for citizens of a former dictatorship.

People in that war-torn country can cast ballots because Canadian soldiers are there to protect their fragile democracy. But somehow, those wearing the Maple Leaf have no such privilege.

Alberta, with two weeks to go before voting day, has failed to offer municipal ballot provisions for soldiers serving around Kandahar and Kabul.

Simply put, Alberta's troops can't vote.

"It is sad -- he lives in Calgary, he pays his taxes, and he would like an opportunity to vote," said Janet Harris McLeod, whose son Sgt. Christopher Harris is serving in Afghanistan.

"He's over there defending our freedom and he can't even exercise his, because the bozos down at city hall didn't take into account that soldiers should be able to vote."

It's not just the hundred-or-so Calgarians in south-central Asia, but all serving Albertans, including an entire battle group from CFB Edmonton.

The problem lies with Alberta's Local Authorities Elections Act, which offers two ways to cast a ballot in province-wide municipal elections: In person, or by mail-in ballot.

But mail flown to Afghanistan from the military postal station in Belleville, Ont. takes weeks to reach the intended recipient.

"Once an item is mailed, it could take up to three weeks for the mail to be delivered to the addressee in theatre," reads the National Defence website.

With 28 days between Nomination Day and the actual election on Oct. 18, it is logistically impossible for Alberta soldiers in Afghanistan to use mail-in ballots.

Three weeks may be the official guideline for one-way mail, but Harris says the reality is double that -- letters to her son typically take five or six weeks to reach him.

As a result, mail-in ballots are unfeasible.

"Even if it doesn't get lost or caught up in bureaucracy on its way over to Afghanistan, there's no way to guarantee he would be around the base to receive to and send it back again," she said.

"They'd have to find these guys "_ make sure they're available, get them into a place where they can vote, and then get it back here -- it would be a nightmare."

Someone, somewhere, has made a major error in not defending the voting rights of soldiers -- even prisoners have the right to vote, but our military can't.

Calgary's chief returning officer, Barb Clifford, confirms that mail-in ballots are the only option for soldiers under the Local Authorities Elections Act.

"If we get a mail-in ballot to you, and you can't get it back to us by the close of voting on election day, we can't do anything for you," said Clifford.

"The military is telling them it's four to six weeks to get a piece of mail, and I can't change that -- we don't even know who is running until four weeks before the election."

The obvious answer is online voting, which former Alberta elections boss Lorne Gibson promised to look into in 2008, as part of a reform package aimed at improving voter participation.

But that hasn't happened -- and despite computers being trusted for everything from banking to nuclear missile control, Clifford says no province or state offers online voting.

Instead, Clifford says U.S. officials have an absentee ballot system for soldiers -- troops still vote by mail, but the deadline for return is extended past the voting day.

"They have time after the election to get them in, and the election isn't official until all the absentee ballots are counted," said Clifford.

"The province could do that, but I can't. It requires a legislative change."

And that's what Alberta must do before another election rolls around, says one Calgary alderman, after learning of the soldier snub.

"Being able to vote is a basic democratic right, and we need to ensure our soldiers have that right," said Ald. Diane Colley-Urquhart.

michael.platt@sunmedia.ca