Do it! I mean, I’m not Saltire, and by all means discuss this with him, but this is my first year as an Election Inspector and it’s been a great gig. I’m really pleased to know more about how voting really works.
In my case, it was a matter of telling my clerk I was interested. A little paperwork, a 2.5-hour training class, and voila. I am glad I had a chance to work a quiet primary first, but it’s not necessary.
You guys south of the border are really into bureaucracy! 
In the recent Canadian election, if you didn’t get a voter’s card in the mail you could just phone Elections Canada to get on the list.
Failing that, find out where people in your neighbourhood are voting (not hard - Elections Canada had a web page that let you look up such things), show up there with ID and something that shows where you live (e.g. a utility bill). Failing that, show up with a friend that IS on the voter’s list and have him/her attest to your legitimacy (to vote, not your parentage 
).
In previous elections E.C. had enumerators go door to door, but they didn’t do that this time because it was too expensive. However, there is a checkbox on the first page of the Income Tax return that lets CCRA (aka Revenue Canada) provide your name, address, and birthdate to Elections Canada so you get on the list automatically.
You guys have to actually go some place to get registered to vote?! Weird!
Well, no.
Of course, many people do “go somewhere” to register to vote–they do it when they get their driver’s license. So they had to go somewhere, but they had to be there anyway. You can do it via mail. I’ve seen people do it on the street. It’s just that when someone is having difficulty, going to the clerk’s office ain’t bad advice.
But from what you guys are saying it sounds like you have to take some positive action ahead of time to be able to vote (and that action seems to be more than phoning up someone to say “I didn’t get a card - put me on the list please!”), since you suggest going to the clerk’s office if there’s a problem. Maybe I wasn’t clear in my last message; in Canada you can just show up at the polling station on election day even if you aren’t on the list - you’ll just need to provide id and proof of address (or someone to vouch for you) before they give you a ballot.
Yes, in the US you must register to vote. It’s, in my opinion, a needless barrier to voting. In most places you must do it a good bit ahead of time, too.
Oh, and for some reason it’s on a Tuesday that’s not a general holiday, although the schools often get the day off because school are polling places. I don’t know if they vote on working weekdays in Canada, but if they don’t I’ll be even more ticked off. See, on Sundays, especially here in the Bible Belt, a lot of places aren’t even allowed to be open part of the day. We could all go vote then, but nooo.
Yes, we vote during the week, and it can be any time of the year, unlike you folks.
I presume it is to prevent fraud. What’s to keep me, a dishonest person desperate to give my candidate maximum votes, from showing up at several polling places, each with a different address shown on an id (or a person willing to vouche for me) and voting both places? The clerk might catch the problem later, but how to “zero out” my votes among the thousands cast?
Yes, you have to tell the government “this is where I live, and I’d like to vote.” It’s a rather minor thing. It took under 5 minutes when I was 18, and it was at the library (where I was all the time anyway). I also had to call and tell them “I moved” when I moved.
Here (in my state), during a presidential election year, at ball games, at street festivals, at fairs, at any place people are likely to show up, there will be other people with voter registration forms in hand, ready to register them. It’s slightly more work than showing up at the polls the day of the election, but not terribly so.