There were some good stats in there, but this wasn’t anything groundbreaking. I’m totally in favor of making Election Day a federal holiday, it’s arguably the most important day for the continuance of our democracy after all. BUT any action must take into account the fact that so many Americans don’t get federal holidays off, and employers can’t be forced to give them that time off. So there would have to be a fund or subsidy available to employers to continue paying their workers on this new day off. It should also be a kind of superholiday so even private employers are forced to observe it.

This, and getting rid of the electoral college should be a priority once we’ve soundly defeated the orange turd and can take a couple breaths.

IMHO, yes, but you have to bring proof of having voted the next work day for it to count. And the State should respond to mail-in ballots with “I Voted” stickers - mail in ballots have deadlines, so maybe It’d be enough time for a round trip. Or if you drop off the ballot at a post office, postal workers can hand you a sticker. More money for the USPS; it’s a win-win. Change the I voted sticker each year; counterfeiting would be more work than it’s worth.

There’d be forgeries, lax enforcement, whatever; the point isn’t to have a hard enforcement, like money, but just to encourage people to vote.

We’ll never be a country that mandates voting, like some do, but anything that encourages people to vote is a good thing.

P.S. if we can’t convert to a 4-day work week country, I think we should slowly create more federal holidays that fall on specific week days, until we have 52 of them.

Although the federal government cannot require private companies to observe holidays

JFC what a dystopian hellhole. It kills me they are so proud of their shitty living conditions.

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?

washingtonpost.com/…/voter-turnout-in-2014-was-th…

“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:

oregonlive.com/…/voter_turnout_of_695_percent_i.h…

“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.”

Unless they’re going to do something like require octuple pay for anyone working on an election day, which in turn would fuck up the financial math of any business thinking about opening that day, making it a holiday won’t fix anything.

Mandate vote by mail federally. While your at it, copy Mexicos voter ID system and give everyone free voter ID’s.

This is a popular wish from MAGA types who have been told that mail and early voting is fraudulent, which isn’t supported by evidence.

If you can vote early or by mail, there is no need for a holiday on the one voting day.

At the same time, we can’t expect every grocery store worker, police officer, air traffic controller, and truck driver, and everyone else, to be off simultaneously on the same day.

All of those drawbacks are bullshit.

Early voting and mail in ballots should be more available to everyone. That’s not a reason not to make it a holiday.

Private employers can’t be forced to observe a holiday. That’s not a reason not to make it a holiday. People required to work could still go before or after work, and would see reduced wait times because public employees would be able to go during work hours.

Finding childcare for the day is a problem anyway, as polling places are often schools, and the kids are sent home anyway. If it was a holiday, you could take your kids with you to the polls and then go to the park. That’s almost a reason not to make it a holiday, but not really.

If banks, post offices, and schools are all closed, a lot of businesses will also close because work slows down. Other employers, like retailers, food service, and entertainment venues like movie theaters would all see an uptick in business, and would probably offer extra pay for those shifts.

Yes to mail in ballots. Yes to early voting. Yes to a national election holiday. Reduce the barriers to voting. No to ID laws. No to voter roll purges. No to proof of citizenship requirements.