7mo ago

Should Election Day Become A Federal Holiday? Weighing The Benefits And Drawbacks

ace-usa.org Should Election Day Become A Federal Holiday? Weighing The Benefits And Drawbacks | ACE

Election Day is always held on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November during an election year. Congress codified this tradition in 1845 to account for

Is it time to make Election Day a federal holiday? 🗳️ Some say it would boost voter turnout and align the U.S. with other democracies, while others argue it could create challenges for hourly workers and cost millions. Dive into the debate over whether a federal voting holiday is the best way to strengthen democracy or if there are better solutions. Check out the full breakdown!

https://ace-usa.org/blog/research/research-votingrights/should-election-day-become-a-federal-holiday-weighing-the-benefits-and-drawbacks/

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229 comments

No. All that needs to be done is make universal vote by mail the standard.
My state has been doing it for 24 years now, this will be the 7th Presidential election (2000, 4, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24) and 13th Congressional election. It works, it increases voter participation, there's a built in paper trail, there's nothing to not like about it.
Remember how 2014 had a record low turnout for a mid-term election?
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2014/11/10/voter-turnout-in-2014-was-the-lowest-since-wwii/
"the lowest it's been in any election cycle since World War II, according to early projections by the United States Election Project.
Just 36.4 percent of the voting-eligible population cast ballots as of last Tuesday, continuing a steady decline in midterm voter participation that has spanned several decades. The results are dismal, but not surprising -- participation has been dropping since the 1964 election, when voter turnout was at nearly 49 percent."
Meanwhile, in my state:
https://www.oregonlive.com/politics/2014/11/voter_turnout_of_695_percent_i.html
"Turnout in this fall's election reached 69.5 percent, just half a percent short of turnout in 2010 and 2006 and 1.5 percent better than in 2002, Secretary of State Kate Brown said Wednesday.
More than 1.5 million Oregonians cast ballots, a record high for a non-presidential election, while nearly 700,000 registered voters sat out."
- I got home last night from work, voted, and ate dinner. Got up to go to work and tossed the ballot in my mailbox this morning. It was amazing. Being able to get an absentee ballot in NY has been absolutely wonderful.
  I am a bit worried about my signature though lol I can't remember if I signed with my stupid fresh out of highschool "script" signature on previous ballots that I used on my social security card, or my general signature I've been using for everything for decades now...
  
  I mean, if it gets rejected, they will let you know. Good news is you can always re-register and update your signature.
  Here, we have the motor voter registration, so it's the same signature as my drivers license.
- There is one argument against everyone voting by mail that I accept:
  People could be making "let's go vote together"-meetups to make sure their friends are voting what they "should" - which would destroy freedom and privacy of the vote which are fundamental.
  The same can also happen in abusive relationships where one partner can take away the freedom to vote what they want from the other by standing behind them when they fill out their ballot.
  Voting by mail is safe, but because of those two it should NEVER be the de-facto standard. It's great to have more people voting - but whoever can should still vote personally if possible.
  I know the setup of the voting booths is way worse in the US than here in Germany so both the way to them and the lines in front of them are longer, so that decision might flip towards voting by mail quicker, but imho voting in person should remain the standard - just because noone can look over your shoulder when you're making your cross in that setting
  
  Generally, it's less "lets go vote together!" than it is "lets drop off our ballots together!"
  Coercive voting is a crime, in 24 years we haven't seen an incidence of it yet, but that was one of the FUD arguments when we voted for it.
  "What's to stop an employer from requiring employees to bring in their ballots and vote the company line?"
  Well, it's a crime. If you don't trust your employees to vote, do you trust that not one will rat you out?
  
  From my point of view both the police and the judges are getting heavily influenced by people with a less democratic agenda in mind.
  Something like that would've never worked years ago - but with 4 more years of Trump handpicking judges? I wouldn't even be sure the Supreme Court would strike something lime that down if it's done subtle enough.
- The military has allowed it since the civil war.
  https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/debate-over-mail-voting-dates-back-civil-war-180976091/
- Same way for Colorado. It's all the benefit of electronic voting, but with the added safety of paper ballots. And it's a format we're all familiar with from school -- bubble in our answer (just with a pen instead of a number 2 pencil), and then turn it in. The counters feed the ballots into the counting machine, which tallies up the votes, then the ballots are stored in nice boxes, which can be retrieved and hand-counted on the off-chance the machines get hacked or otherwise...tampered with (Tina Peters, I'm looking at YOU...as you go to jail for 9 years! :3).

229 comments