CAMROSE - Bob Pushie pulled a small piece of paper from his shirt pocket, where he had written a candidate's name the day before, and double-checked the spelling on his ballot.

"I had a little cheat sheet," Pushie said Friday, after he cast his advanced vote for the Aug. 18 federal byelection in Battle River-Crowfoot.

A coil-bound, 32-page laminated booklet listing the record 214 candidates in the riding was available for Pushie to flip through at the polling station in Camrose, Alta.

He didn't need the help, he said, but the unique voting process got him and his wife thinking about Canada's electoral system.

"It has to somehow be more difficult to run."

In this byelection, there is no marking an x. Voters must hand write the name of their preferred candidate in a blank space.

For th

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