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Elections Canada says veiled voting is legal : Top Stories : News : Sympatico / MSN

Speaking with Canada AM Monday, a spokeswoman with the Canadian Council on American-Islamic Relations called the move "unnecessary."

"Women who wear any niqab, as a matter of principle, always remove it to identify their faces," said Sarah Elgazzar in an interview from Montreal. "It's something that's always been done. They identify themselves at border crossings, when they get their passports -- on their photo ID, their faces are showing."

People who wear the face coverings generally don't object to identifying themselves, Elgazzar said, and that's why a ruling like this only creates a false impression of Muslim women.

"All of this controversy kind of just stigmatizes this population of people who are assumed not to be complying but have already been complying for a number of years now," she continued. "It was perhaps a goodwill gesture but it was very unnecessary and has caused more harm than good."

Liberal Opposition Leader Stephane Dion told reporters in Vancouver Sunday there could be some compromise. As an example, he said female officials with Elections Canada could be on hand at polling stations, to identify women behind their veils.

Exactly.