I was just thinking about what one of my professors said in Spring 2006. She claimed (I'm not saying she's right or wrong) that the Republicans controlled the Pennsylvania state government and intentionally distributed voting machines so that on average Democrats would have to wait longer to vote than Republicans with the goal of having some Democrats decline to vote rather than waiting. She suggested moving Election Day to a weekend. By moving Election Day to a weekend, missing part of a workday to vote would be an issue for fewer people. Keep in mind that some people may work far away from their polling place. If a person who had my polling place worked in Manhattan, there could be hundreds of polling places closer to that person's workplace than the person's polling place.
There's certainly no good reason not to move the day to a weekend day- tradition certainly isn't a worthwhile excuse. If it can be proven that more people can vote on weekends without fear of job termination or lost time, I'd be all for it.
Which means it'll never happen bc the GOP doesn't want ppl to vote. The more ppl vote, the more they lose.
I think weekend voting would great. Or even Friday and Saturday. If we really want to increase voluntary turnout, make election day the first Saturday after tax day.
Sunday isn't as bad as Saturday. Religious Christians could still vote on a Sunday, but strictly observant Jews would not be able to vote on the Sabbath for religious reasons. The right way to do this is: 1. Easy, no questions asked, vote by mail access for all, including an option for permanent absentee voting for all. 3. Easy and accessible early voting for all. 2. Weekend voting, meaning both Saturday and Sunday -- i.e. no more election day, but rather an election weekend.
The GOP wouldn't go along with Sundays in a million years. Democrats would never go along with a Friday or Saturday election, because most of the people who work on Friday or Saturday are either industrial/factory workers or service industry (retail) workers, each are far more likely to vote D.
We already have early vote and absentee ballots. What I would find more interesting for a topic is Open Primaries, where we vote for candidates from all parties in the primary and if no one gets 5o%+ of the vote there is a run off among the top two vote getters. If you want to make third party candidates viable alternative Open Primaries is the answer.
I agree with this. We had 10 days of early voting in Maryland this primary season. Anyone who didn't want to vote really had no excuse. Besides, looking at the third option in the poll. What businesses that aren't going to close for President's Day are going to close for election day?
Yea we in CA have that jungle primary and I hate it. Top two finishers regardless of party makes the fall ballot. It makes party primaries obsolete and you can get too many people on the ballot which crowds real contenders out.
Do they have all the voting precincts open on early voting days? Over here they only open certain locations (mostly libraries and government buildings) for early voting and the lines were very long in 2012. I went on a Saturday to the library in my area and decided to vote on election day on my precinct; my wife went to a different library on her way from work and she was able to vote, but overall the feeling was that the lines were very long everywhere. I ask this because for us it is relatively easy to go to our precinct but it still implies driving and one or two hours. Can you imagine how difficult it is for somebody that relies on plublic transportation and/or can't take a lot of time off (asuming that early voting is only open in certain places)?
Well no one can bemoan that they only have two options if your not willing let a third party into the equation. Our current State systems guarantee that the final vote will be a Dem vs. a Rep with a possible third party spoiler that almost always favors the Dem. I'd be much more prone to vote 3rd party if I knew it wasn't a de facto vote for the candidate that is my polar opposite.
Yeah. like that time when Ralph Nader siphoned all those votes from George Bush, which ensured the election or President Al Gore. Seriously, I would agree that 3rd party candidates need to be given a fighting chance. Maybe the solution would be similar to what is done in some systems, where you get to make a first and second choice.