Originally Posted By ecdc Yes. And early voting should be standard. In Florida they're restricting early voting. Of course, it's just an amazing coincidence that minorities overwhelmingly work on weekends.
Originally Posted By SpokkerJones Voting should take place on Saturday, but I don't think it should be a federal holiday where people take off work to vote. It can easily be done on the weekend.
Originally Posted By SpokkerJones Those hoping for a significantly greater turnout, however, may be disappointed by weekend voting or even a federal holiday. Few people do not vote because they just can't get to the polls. There is already 12-13 hours of voting and laws that require your employer to give you time off to vote. I suspect the move would make it more convenient for people who already vote, not encourage more people to vote. Advocates of weekend or holiday voting would have you believe that poor minorities who work 12 jobs, take the bus and live in a food desert simply cannot get to the polls, and that if you just mandate that they get the day off (many people still work on federal holidays!) they will suddenly care about politics and go vote. Voting requires a commitment that takes more effort than simply showing up at the polls. You have to research the issues and the candidates.
Originally Posted By ecdc >>may be disappointed<< >>I suspect the move<< Weasel words, much? Evidence? >>Voting requires a commitment that takes more effort than simply showing up at the polls. You have to research the issues and the candidates.<< No one said otherwise, but why assume minorities or the poor aren't doing that already? Why defend practices designed to make it harder for people to vote? It doesn't exactly ring with democracy. Both sides have voter registration drives and organize different ways to get people out to vote. Black churches, for example, will organize carpools and vans on Sunday to get people out so they can vote early. It's clear that Rick Scott's efforts in Florida are specifically designed to hamper the voting rights of those who would vote against his party. Voter fraud is largely a myth, so what good does it do to make it more difficult to vote, regardless of whether 1 or 1,000,000 people take advantage of it? The cost is negligible, and Scott's efforts have actually cost Florida money rather than saving it.
Originally Posted By SpokkerJones "Weasel words, much? Evidence?" You've offered no evidence for your claims and I will not either. This is not a good or bad thing, nor a complaint on my part. The discussion is simply a casual water cooler chat, not speech and debate. "Why defend practices designed to make it harder for people to vote?" I'm not, but no matter what day you plan election day for, someone is going to be arsed to have to go to the polls and pull a lever for somebody. Weekend voting was an idea to increase participation, but then you said that the poor are more likely to vote weekends. So you can't really win. The best solution is to lobby for vote-by-mail. They will not only send you the ballot, they will come to your house and pick it up, and they'll do this every day but Sunday. Voting by mail still requires effort, and in states that have it voter turnout, even by mail, can still be low. They often use the early voter stats to estimate what turnout will be at the polls. In our recent primary, turnout was expected to be low precisely because of low early voter turnout. You have to care about election day, first of all. You have to research the candidates and the issues. I get my voter information guide and sample ballot, and I go to town on that thing, even in a primary. I do this weeks before election day. I can't get my girlfriend to even look at it. I drag her to the polls out of some sense of responsibility to the process, but she doesn't educate herself on what's going on. Making it easy to vote only helps the people who already want to vote, not the people who don't currently vote. If you want to vote in this country, you can vote come hell or high water, if you really cared.
Originally Posted By SpokkerJones "but then you said that the poor are more likely to vote weekends." more likely to work weekends, rather.
Originally Posted By SuperDry <<< Voting should take place on Saturday, but I don't think it should be a federal holiday where people take off work to vote. It can easily be done on the weekend. >>> Well, not quite. The date of the general federal election is set in the Constitution, so changing it would require an Amendment. Since one of the major parties seems to have as a platform plank making it as difficult as possible to vote, I think it highly unlikely that you could get 3/4ths of the states to ratify such an amendment.
Originally Posted By dagobert Over here every election is held on Sunday, because nearly everyone has time to vote on that day. You can vote from 7am onwards until 5pm and around 9pm the results are here. If you don't have time, you can get a voting card, which has to be sent in by mail prior to the election. Don't you have to go to an official office to register for voting? That's not the case here in Austria. Here everyone who is over 18 gets a formular that is to bring together with a passport or another document to the election to varify the identity. That system should make sure that everyone can vote.
Originally Posted By ecdc >>You've offered no evidence for your claims and I will not either.<< Uh, are you claiming there's no Florida voter rolls investigation going on? The difference is I'm pointing out what all media outlets have examined: this impacts minorities more. All you've offered is that minorities and poor people are apparently lazy and wouldn't be bothered to vote or research the issues anyway. Regardless, here's a link to an overview of the 48 hr restriction, followed by a Google News search that you can read up on to your heart's content. <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/28/us/restrictions-on-voter-registration-in-florida-have-groups-opting-out.html" target="_blank">http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03...out.html</a> <a href="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&gl=us&tbm=nws&q=florida+voting+purge&oq=Florida+voting&aq=2&aqi=d1g5d1&aql=&gs_l=news-cc.3.2.43j0l5j43i400.1640.3503.0.5589.14.8.0.6.6.0.92.678.8.8.0...0.0.VGDT-T9Gq2w" target="_blank">http://www.google.com/search?h...T-T9Gq2w</a>
Originally Posted By TomSawyer The manner of elections is actually determined by the states, though the federal election date is set by the Constitution. Work on the state level to make general election days a holiday. You'll get a lot further on the state level than you would get trying to change the Constitution.
Originally Posted By SpokkerJones "The difference is I'm pointing out what all media outlets have examined: this impacts minorities more." Oh, I cannot wait until the conservative court gets a few more cases about disparate impact and strikes down this nonsense. We are well on our way as long as the conservative 5 stay alive. This isn't about voting but it is more in line with what I want to see. <a href="http://www.ere.net/2009/06/29/supreme-court-says-strong-basis-needed-in-disparate-impact-cases/" target="_blank">http://www.ere.net/2009/06/29/...t-cases/</a> It is incredibly easy to vote in this country and anybody who wants to can as long as they put in the effort.
Originally Posted By Dabob2 If these actions didn't have the effect of suppressing the "wrong people" from voting, the GOP wouldn't be doing them. The obvious example from our recent history was the purging of felons from the FL rolls in 2000. Not only were felons who served their time not allowed to vote (as they can in many other states), but many people who simply had the same names were also purged, and didn't find out till they got to the polls. As someone with a common name who had trouble flying for a while after 9/11, I understand this. I just had to jump through hoops, but there were other names where people were denied the right to fly at all for a while (one of them being the ultra-common name of "Robert Johnson" - 60 minutes did a piece on this.) And we won't know until election day how many people who share the same name as felons were purged and will not be allowed to vote. Remember than the entire 2000 election hinged on just a few hundred votes in that one state. The GOP is doing this for a reason. They are also making it harder for college students to vote, saying they have to vote where their parents live, not where they go to school (and school is obviously in session in November). College students voted overwhelmingly for Obama last time. Coincidence? You've gotta be kidding me if you think so.
Originally Posted By TomSawyer After Robert Johnson was turned away from the airport he went down to the crossroads and tried to flag a ride. Nobody seemed to know him. Everyone passed him by.
Originally Posted By Labuda "Don't you have to go to an official office to register for voting? That's not the case here in Austria. Here everyone who is over 18 gets a formular that is to bring together with a passport or another document to the election to varify the identity. That system should make sure that everyone can vote." It varies from state to state as already mentioned, but here in Austin, there's a form you can get tons of places that's postage paid that you send in via snail mail (or can drop at one of the County Tax Offices). Full info on *our* registration is here: <a href="http://www.traviscountytax.org/goVotersRegistration.do" target="_blank">http://www.traviscountytax.org...ation.do</a>
