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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
I think making voting easier would be more important. I still dislike that we only have one day.
Jupiterian Local
Most places have some form of early voting where you can go in and cast your ballot prior to actual election day. That said, it's still monumentally stupid that election day isn't a federal holiday.
Really from Jupiter, but not an alien.
I'm personally less concerned about it being one day and more that it's a weekday without it being a holiday or something which is liable to squeeze out the time available of some voters to get in line to vote.
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
It being a federal holiday wouldn't really be all that helpful, I think - the only things required to close on federal holidays are federal offices and banks. Making it a state holiday I think has more on-the-ground bite.
edited 28th Jul '16 8:23:27 AM by megarockman
Don't see why it has to be an either or situation. Make voting day a federal holiday AND reduce electioneering to a few months maximum.
Queen of Good Things, Honest
Indeed. A Christian holiday stolen from Pagan traditions can be a federal holiday despite separation of church and state, but the day we cast our votes to elect the President of our country? Nope, gotta work that day.
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The Cosmopolitan Fictioneer
... Why is the USA federal government so insistent on making the election done in one day?
Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.
It's more the states are, I think - saves on cost on the actual running of elections if it can all be done in one day. Staggering elections is more liable to have a last-state-gets-more-effective-voting-power situation because results/exit polls from other states are liable to be released.
edited 28th Jul '16 8:26:00 AM by megarockman
Unwanted Anachronism.
I guarantee you, GUARAN-DAMN-TEE you, as soon as the election is called, people will start campaigning for the next presidency, four years from now.
I'm honestly shocked we don't hear more about "Cruz 2020", or "Sanders 2020".
Planeswalker
If Trump wins, Cruz won't have a chance. People already hate him and he's been ostracized from his own party for being a pain in the ass.
Sanders is too old at this point to get another go. If not Warren, it will probably be some successor handpicked by him. Wouldn't be surprised if it ends up being the Congresswoman from Hawaii whose name escapes me just now.
Lost in Space
Election Day is mandated in the Constitution, interestingly. Changing it requires a constitutional amendment.
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
Mandating that Election Day becomes a federal holiday will help demographics that vote Democrat.
So naturally, it's never gonna happen.
Just making it a federal holiday wouldn't really do much from a legal standpoint anyway - the only things that have to close on those days are federal government offices and banks.
Never Trust
x4 What makes you think there'll be an election in 2020 if Trump wins?
Enough to panic about this year without getting into hypotheticals.
Unwanted Anachronism.
@trick
Because, unless the Republicans really, truly believe they can somehow get supermajorities in two thirds of the US States, changing the constitution to remove the four year term limit is basically not going to happen.
It's the same thing I point out with people saying "Obama's gonna take our gurnz", unless you think he can somehow overcome the 66% threshold, the constitution isn't going anywhere.
3/4 of states' ratification is needed. So even harder than that.
Unwanted Anachronism.
I stand corrected, so 75%. Basically moving the needle from "never going to happen" to "Im-fucking-possible".
And, honestly, that's a good thing. Term limiting the Presidency stops a lot of bad juju from being possible.
Writer, Artist, Ignored
@Multiple days leads to influencing the polls: You could solve that by making it illegal for the press to report on the progress of the election until really late in the last day. Don't we already to that?
No - in fact, there's already been complaints from West Coast states in the past few elections that exit polling of Eastern Time Zone states before the West closes is influencing turnout. Again, I'm wagering the First Amendment is what's covering them.
edited 28th Jul '16 8:52:33 AM by megarockman
Eh, if you do it over multiple days, press would argue that breaks the first amendment by putting undue hardship.
Planeswalker
And theoretically, within a few days there's a larger time window for someone to tamper with the votes. Not that tampering of sorts doesn't already take place when people are barred from voting due to various rules and laws.
edited 28th Jul '16 8:53:40 AM by PhiSat
Oissu!
Queen of Good Things, Honest
How so? I should think that making Election Day a federal holiday would most heavily impact people who work a 9-5 job which, demographically, skews more heavily towards white, middle-class men. The only demographic the Republican party even caters to at this point.
People with non-standardized work schedules are less put out by having to work that day.
edited 28th Jul '16 8:57:48 AM by TobiasDrake
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I for one would be happy to give the FEC enough teeth to force electioneering to not take two bloody years.