I agreeto Idea voting day should be a national Holiday
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voting day should be a national Holiday

voting day should be a national Holiday, move all voting to the same time of the year for all states. Create a Holiday to help all make time time to vote.

Shouldn't we celebrate?

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Submitted by Josh Senecal 4 years ago

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Comments (15)

  1. mind

    Awesome ! But we need to vote mail-in and by internet. End traffic jams going to and from our respective polling places.

    4 years ago
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  2. Josh Senecal Idea Submitter

    I agree 100%.

    4 years ago
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  3. taxes.guide

    Perhaps election day should also be our tax filing deadline as well. It could be our national day of civic duties.

    4 years ago
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  4. Josh Senecal Idea Submitter

    taxes.guide,

    But the stress of tax filing? I spend days on mine and its not a complicated one.

    4 years ago
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  5. jfsabl

    remember, all sorts of people still have to work on most national holidays. This needs to include at least a half-day free during polling hours for even fast food, nurses, etc.

    4 years ago
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  6. Josh Senecal Idea Submitter

    jfsabl,

    My experience has been good when needing a few hours to go vote, has yours been different?

    4 years ago
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  7. jfsabl

    In a word, yes. A friend was unable to vote in this last primary because he had a double shift at Wendy's. A lady down the street was unable to get to her polling place between shifts as a home health care aide. The nurses laughed, and said they'd been long-scheduled that day. And in the last presidential election, there were 5 hour waits at some polling places.

    This problem differs from place to place, for sure. This is due, in part, to very different laws on absentee voting. (I live in a place where historically it was assumed that absentee voting for all would mean that the husbands would vote for the wives, and the unions or the bosses would vote for the workers, so getting an absentee takes a lot of effort if you are under 65.)

    That's why we need a national solution. The places where people already are reasonable about letting everyone vote will be fine, either way. The places where people are being kept from the polls? They don't (obviously) have the ability to elect people to create that change locally. We're one of the very few countries to not have election day as a holiday, you know. And they mostly have much higher voter participation than we do.

    4 years ago
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  8. Josh Senecal Idea Submitter

    jfsabl,

    -husbands would vote for the wives? I know we have small and more traditional areas but I didn't think this was something still going on.

    -and the unions or the bosses would vote for the workers. That is a union gone too far!

    Would that be considered a violation of a persons right to vote?

    4 years ago
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  9. jfsabl

    It's a felony. But it was a felony back in the heyday of the political machines. (And as far as unions, I think the problem was far worse with the job bosses / company men.) Our state election laws say that if a voter wants someone with them to help them vote, the only people who can't be picked are the judge of elections, the union rep, and the person's own boss / job supervisor.)

    Why the judge of elections? Let me explain the concept of a "chain ballot." This is from the bad old days (and the history books) but I'm told it happened "well within living memory."

    Election official (Judge) has a single, filled out paper ballot-it's their own ballot, but they don't drop it in the box. Election official hands this (and a dollar) to the first voter. The voter hands over their blank ballot, which the election official again fills out. Repeat process until the end of election day. The source of the money was candidates who had paid for the vote. For simplicity, this was usually handled by delivering a unanimous vote. And a dollar went a long way in those days. (Just in case anyone is unclear on their being risks to paper ballots, too, if people are willing to commit election fraud.)

    No, I never knew about stuff like this when I lived on the West Coast, and I didn't see any real risk to paper ballots (compared to e-voting). But I've had my eyes opened a bit. I like the scantron voting best (combination of an electronic and a voter verified paper record, because each one serves as backup for the other).

    A bit off topic...Wanting election day and tax day on the same day?!? Surely you don't think that because your taxes are simple, they're simple for everyone? Lots of people stay up overnight to finish their taxes, and then crash in exhaustion, or spend several weeks focused on getting their tax information together. Silly to do that at the same time that you're finding out about candidates and issues (if you live in a state with referenda) and judges (if you live in a state with elected / election retention judges) and bonds (if you live somewhere where bond issuance has to go to the voters).

    4 years ago
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  10. gmclam

    Voting day should be a holiday, a WEDNESDAY with two days of work before and after this day of voting. Otherwise, I feel people will just turn it into another reason to "play", go on a trip or otherwise party.

    4 years ago
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  11. Peter Jackson

    Why does voting have to be a single day? Why not have a couple of days during which to vote. And, open voting to other methods -- mail-in, internet certainly. People who scream fraud are usually the ones trying to disenfranchise.

    While you are at it, did you know that in some countries voting is compulsary? How much more representative would our government be if everyone HAD to vote. (I think in Australia it is a $50 fine for missing a vote).

    Combine the whole litany:

    -multiple days with polls open

    -mail-in, internet, early voting available

    -compulsary voting

    -same time taxes are due (think how much more politicians would be focused on taxation issues!)

    4 years ago
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  12. politisal

    Having read the comments so far, I agree, as I have long held, that Election Day should be a national holiday. The problem with holding elections over multiple days, as we saw in the 2008 election, is that we seem to have abandoned not reporting results until the polls close. Early-voting returns (not even early in the day, but reports before election day) were reported, which I found disturbing; whether your chosen candidate is doing well or poorly, this adds a factor to your decision to go to the polls—"Is my vote needed? Will it count?"

    In my state, absentee ballots aren't counted unless there are more of them than the difference between the two leading candidates, and I also like the absolute privacy of the voting booth for anyone who can get there (call me old-fashioned [grin]). Yes, scanned paper ballots are probably the best answer to keeping elections honest. I can't imagine traffic jams being that big a problem if we had a national holiday: there would be many fewer voters crammed into the traditional "voting on the way to or from work" hours. And a fine for missing an election is regressive, falling heaviest on the poorest, unless it is a percent of income, and even then those with largest incomes can afford to give up a greater percentage than those with smallest incomes, as the BASIC cost of living differs little for particular individuals (a gallon of milk costs a set price no matter who buys it).

    4 years ago
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  13. B Mac

    Move President's day to the voting day or vice-a-versa. No need for an extra federal holiday.

    4 years ago
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  14. metropol_47

    This should definitely be...it would help with turnout substantially, I think.

    4 years ago
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  15. Josh Senecal Idea Submitter

    I think we have some really good and legitimate ideas!

    4 years ago
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