Yeah, it doesn't help freelancers like me who bill by the hour! Or non-citizens like me who can't vote anyway! Wait....
Does that really confuse you? When you go to the store on a Saturday is there not someone there to check you out? My doctor has weekend hours. What constitutes a day off for you might not qualify for someone else. Just because you have a day off does not mean it isn't a work day for others. Every single day of the week is a "work day". For one, the polls are open for more than eight hours. If you can't vote during your work day, get up early or do it after work. Two, every place I have ever worked (besides restaurants) had a policy of allowing employees three full hours of flex time on election day to vote. What more do you need?
Every job I have ever had has given me two hours of paid time to go vote on election day. I go vote, then have a nice extra long 2 1/2 hour lunch...
I don't understand the objection to a national holiday for election day. We already have ten (?) national holidays every year. Every democracy in the world does it. What more important day is there than election day? It would simplify the whole process dramatically.
I don't have an objection to it at all, but not everyone will get the day off. Maybe employees should have to present their voter registration card to their boss in order to take the day. Anyone not registered to vote still has to work. I feel the same way about Veteran's day. The ONLY people that should be allowed to take that day off are vets IMO. Even swiftboat veterans for truth.
It is in most states where people know that their individual vote doesn't mean anything. Plus, the fact of the matter is, many people really don't care who the president is. They'll go on living just the same like they always have. Like me. Oh, I'm gonna vote, but really, no presidential election has changed my life at all yet. I don't suspect any in the future will either. No matter who wins this election, I'll go on happily with my business and not at all be affected by the change or lack thereof.
Far more people are off on weekends than on weekdays. It's a pretty straightforward equation. Polls are open until 7, I believe. With traffic, there is no way I can get back to where I live at night. I'll have to squeeze the vote into the small half-hour window between waking up and going to work. Not exactly the easiest thing to do.
I realize you may have had a Soviet upbringing so the concept of religious interference would be novel to you, but here, people get their god thing on on the weekends and would HIGHLY displeased if they couldn't vote (and they wouldn't).
I didn't want to say anything, but I have noticed that you post alot on bigsoccer from "work". We all do it, but this is our tax dollars at work, so to speak.
What part of the Christian religion forbids anyone from casting a ballot on a Sunday? Besides, the more reasonable suggestion is to make election-year Tuesday a holiday.
In Peru, a nation of 85-90% Roman Catholic, they always vote on a Sunday. Nobody ever complained. I say that this is not religious, but rather very American. To quote Don King, "Only in America!" We, Americans enjoy a free ride while we profess a no free lunch motto. It is the need to apply certain standards, just as long as we can do what we want. Silly concept, but true. I'd say that it may be pure human nature to be that child who cries foul when another child starts playing with one of our toys, even though we were not using it. In the end, we complain about the conflicts when we will take the easy day off and in this case, nothing had better get between me and my religious day. That aside, Tuesdays are great because most major religions have nothing on Tuesdays. It is best offend the least number of people when possible. It's just that I, personally, don't like excuses, especially when in the end it really, really doesn't make a difference.
It doesn't necessarily need to be a holiday. If it was, I fear that the only people who would have off are banks and government workers. The two hour paid leave is just fine. Everyone should get that benefit, even hourly workers. Who the hell needs the entire day off to vote?
Suspending economic activity for an entire day (and doing it midweek, further disrupting the workweek) for something that may or may not take as much as 2 hours out of someone's day isn't all that reasonable in my book. There are businesses that need to stay open, be it because they have overseas clients or have a hard deadline - those businesses are going to have to stay open anyway. And that would ruin the whole point of a voting holiday, wouldn't it? Plus, what about public transportation? Bus drivers need to vote too!
Got me. I was thing more of the Jews and Saturday. Although more secularized MOTs wouldn't give a care, the Orthodox would not vote on Saturday. And frankly, if the election were on Sunday, I wouldn't want to vote on a day that I couldn't buy beer until 1 pm. I just think that there would be Christians that wouldn't want the Election to be on G-d's day. And I don't think a born-again is going to change it.
And you know what's going to happen if you gave the whole day off? Some asshats are going to think "Cool, I have the WHOLE day to vote! My taxes paid for these voting booths and I'm going to get my money's worth". They'll camp out in the booth, pretending to be indecisive because there's no pressure to get back to work. Think of the logjam!
While I respect that for many ppl this is serious business, in many, many, many countries w/ equal or more religious fervor, they vote on Sundays. Even in the [Bushism]Third Worlds[/Bushism] they vote on Sundays. And that's in countries that haven't even entered the Industrial Revolution! Yet here we are, fully transitioned far beyond industrialization, in the DIGITAL AGE, blatant late capitalist, and we operate as a frickin' 18th century, pre-modern agricultural society.
Sure, and I accept that. Don't you think that higher-ups in the various religious hierarchies would voice their displeasure in an extreme way to using "G-d's Day" for such terrestial pursuits? Changing to Sunday would cause a big commotion. Plus many third world nations are not Christian. But of course a few don't really hold elections either.