[lit-ideas] Re: voting

  • From: Andy Amago <aamago@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx, lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Tue, 19 Oct 2004 10:10:38 -0400 (GMT-04:00)

-----Original Message-----
From: John McCreery <mccreery@xxxxxxx>
Sent: Oct 18, 2004 11:32 PM
To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: voting



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).


A.A. Early voting seems to me like a jury voting before all the evidence is in. 
 In the 2000 election, Bush's DUI information came out after people in Florida 
voted.  It's possible some who voted early might have voted differently had 
they had that information.  

A national holiday is a good idea.  A national election day was only enacted 
into law in the 1870s' I believe.  Before that, each state voted on a different 
day.  Maine voted in September.  The people who don't vote don't know what's 
going on anyway.  


Andy Amago







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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