It’s ridiculous that there should be a legal battle about extending the voting hours. The voter turnout in this country is extremely low, so any measure that allows more people to exercise their most important civic right should be welcomed.
It makes absolutely no sense that the election should be held on a Tuesday. How are people who work supposed to get to the polls? I have no doubt that many of my students will not vote because they are running between school and work all day long.
Voting on Tuesdays is as strong a cultural tradition as sleeping at night and being awake in the daytime. There are exceptions to each, but the force is powerful.
Here at UD, we have Election Day off as a holiday for all university employees and students.
LikeLike
Here in Louisiana state elections are on Saturday, which in my view makes it really hard to get to the polls — people are either at work or away for the weekend. In my case, I often forget to vote since I expect elections to be Tuesdays; elections are furthermore not much discussed or announced. On the West Coast you get a voter’s pamphlet in the mail, but here nothing; also alternative candidates are not well enough funded to have a whole lot of publicity so you really have to watch and investigate. But, with polls being open 6AM-8PM or later, and with early and absentee voting, one does have plenty of time and also reminders to vote in Federal elections at least.
LikeLike
Voting on Tuesdays is as strong a cultural tradition as sleeping at night and being awake in the daytime.
Really? You’re comparing a U.S.-specific voting practice to a behavior that stretches back to prehistoric times?
My understanding is that voting on Tuesday is an artifact of rural population patterns and slow transportation technology in colonial times–when everyone had to assemble on the same day at the county seat to vote in person, and most people were scattered in distant farms, with the fastest transportation for most people being horse-based. Travel or voting on Sunday would have been scandalous and sacrilegious. So, if you hold the voting on Tuesday, people have Monday to travel to town, Tuesday to vote, shop, and socialize, and Wednesday to travel back to their homesteads.
Unfortunately, this Tuesday requirement has been written into Article I of our national Constitution, so changing it would be very difficult. Otherwise, weekend voting makes a ton of good sense.
LikeLike
Canadian Voting law:
“By law, qualified electors must have three consecutive hours to cast their vote on election day. If your hours of work do not allow for three consecutive hours to vote, your employer must give you time off.
For example, if you live in a riding where voting hours are 9:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. and you usually work from 11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., your hours of work will not allow three consecutive hours for voting. To give you three consecutive hours to vote, your employer could allow you to arrive late (at 12:30 p.m.), let you leave early (at 6:30 p.m.), or give you three hours off at some point during the work day.”
also:
“It is an offence for employers to fail to provide time off for voting if required under the Canada Elections Act.
It is also an offence for an employer to reduce an employee’s pay where the employee has been provided time off to vote in accordance with the Act. The maximum penalty for violating these prohibitions is a fine of up to $1,000, three months imprisonment, or both.
It is also an offence for an employer to use intimidation, undue influence, or any other means to interfere with the granting of time off to vote under the Canada Elections Act. The maximum penalty for violating this provision is a fine of up to $5,000, five years imprisonment, or both.”
LikeLike
I absolutely agree with you, Clarissa. This country makes it incredibly inconvenient to vote and then complains about the low voter turn out every election. I recently watched my friends go through the process, as well as going through it myself, of registering for absentee ballots (as we’ll be at school during the election) and we’ve all said the same thing; “Why must they make this harder than it needs to be?” When I first had trouble filling mine out, I thought that I was just being stupid, but many people I’ve talked to had similar issues. Then, after struggling to acquire a form, fill it out, and figure out where to send it in, we still had to wait weeks before knowing if the form went through alright. Some of us have finally gotten our ballots, but many others are still waiting with no indication of when they can expect a response. And politicians are really going to criticize young people for failing to get to the polls?
LikeLike
A conservative literary critic and college professor
Clarissa's Blog 
Leave a comment