[lit-ideas] Re: voting
- From: John McCreery <mccreery@xxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 19 Oct 2004 12:32:07 +0900
On 2004/10/19, at 4:36, JimKandJulieB@xxxxxxx wrote:
> Someone explain to me why people in Florida are voting for President =20=
> today.
This is one of those times when we should think a bit before throwing=20
out the baby (early voting) with the bath water (the lousy,=20
computer-crashing, hackable implementation).
One of the difficulties with the all-one-day system is that voting day=20=
for US national elections is always a Tuesday, a working day for most=20
of the voting population, which means that most people with jobs have a=20=
disincentive to vote. Allowing early voting means that people who=20
might not be able to get to a polling place on the Tuesday have a=20
chance to cast their ballots on another, more convenient day.
My favorite proposal is, however, a fairly obvious one=81\make Election=20=
Day a national holiday, so that no one can be prevented from voting by=20=
a boss who insists on their working.
John McCreery
P.S. Early voting is also, by the way, turning out (if the=20
implementation isn't screwed up) to be a boon for poll watchers, who=20
can cast their own votes in advance and then be able to concentrate on=20=
combatting intimidation or other voting suppression efforts on Election=20=
Day.
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