9 ms·

I think elections should be held on weekends giving the maximum number of voters the opportunity to vote. This is the case in most countries anyway.

gaur 10y ago
I think elections should be held by mail, so that people can vote on whatever day they damn well please. Some states already do it that way.
- seszett 10y ago
  This would be much more difficult to make anonymous (though not impossible), add quite a few middlemen, and prevent you from being sure your vote has actually been counted and not tampered with, though. I like putting a piece of paper in a box very much (and elections are always on Sundays in France so you don't have to choose between this and your job).
  - finnn 10y ago
    In Washington State in the US the only way to vote AFAIK is by mail. You can go online and monitor your ballot through the processing steps after it's been dropped off.
- dsp1234 10y ago
  Oregon votes by mail, and I've generally been happy with it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vote-by-mail_in_Oregon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vote-by-mail_in_Oregon
  - sxcurry 10y ago
    Agreed - simple, accurate, and allows lots of private time to read the ballot document and make decisions. I'm not sure why more states don't adopt vote by mail.
- madeofpalk 10y ago
  Wait, this isn't universal in the US? In Australia I went into a prepolling station and voted a week early. Of course, compulsory voting definitely means things like these are required, but it never struck me that other countries wouldn't have the ability to prepoll
  - oh_sigh 10y ago
    Voting is a state issue, not a federal one. So, some states support and encourage voting by mail, some don't.
  - mjevans 10y ago
    I agree, you /should/ be required to vote. It is fulfillment of your civic duty. Though you should be free to submit a ballot of as little as a single mark (the mark being that you abstain from all contests on the ballot). If you vote in any single one you'd need to complete the rest, to ensure you ballot cannot be tampered with later.
    - anotherevan 10y ago
      In theory voting is compulsory. In practice it is compulsory to show up and get your name marked off. What you do after that in the little booth with just your conscious and a pen is up to you. (I usually take the pen, that's all I've ever got out of politics.)
      - cyphar 10y ago
        > In theory voting is compulsory. In practice it is compulsory to show up and get your name marked off. Since we have a secret ballot, it would be unenforceable for them to say that you had to submit a valid ballot. > What you do after that in the little booth with just your conscious and a pen is up to you. (I usually take the pen, that's all I've ever got out of politics.) Odd, my voting place last election only had pencils. I carried a pen with me (voting with a pencil is asking for trouble).
    - cyphar 10y ago
- wtbob 10y ago
  The problem with mail-in ballots is that they can be (and often are) mailed in well before all the facts of the election are there.
chvid 10y ago
All things equal; doing on voting on weekends would make people in jobs more likely to vote. Which would be an advantage for one party and not the other.
- hueving 10y ago
  Each party can now begin arguing about which has more supporters unemployed.
- ZenoArrow 10y ago
  Part of the reason your country (and my country) has such strong political division comes from the stereotyping of voters. When you have these stereotypes in play not only do you limit your own understanding of different groups, you also encourage them to vote based on what the prevailing attitudes of their social circles happen to be. I see this all of the time, people voting based on making a statement of solidarity with the people they consider their peers (and this applies across the whole political spectrum). If you want a more productive political debate in your country, it doesn't help to pigeonhole people before you've got the chance to know them.
  - chvid 10y ago
    Inside politics this is a whole professional field. The effect of changing voting age, voter registration rules, how new parties are registered, whether voting is compulsory, how voting is combined with voting on other issues and so on can be calculated and predicted quite precisely. And you will see that all major political parties are working for the changes that will benifit themselves the most.
    - ZenoArrow 10y ago
      > "predicted quite precisely" The question I'm raising is why it can be predicted. The assertion I'm making is that many people vote in accordance with the norms of their societal influences, not necessarily because they're making decisions based on the vision and competency of the people they're voting for, and by stereotyping people you're only furthering this phenomenon. To put it in other words, I do not doubt that political parties put together statistics on voters to guide their decisions in an election, however there's a difference between doing it publicly and doing it privately, and that difference can be found in how it affects the behaviour of voters. When it comes to predicting in public you should be conscious of the effects of self-fulfilling prophecies. By tying a voting decision to someone's identity within a society you hold back debates based on reason.
jsprogrammer 10y ago
Much easier: you can always register your opinion and every so often we count them all up and call it the election.
- wott 10y ago
  And the state could just buy this information from Facebook and Google. Modern!
SNvD7vEJ 10y ago
Sweden here: We always have the election on a Sunday to maximize number of voters. Also, voting can of course be posted ahead, and voting can be delegated to an ombudsman if you are unable to attend physically at a voting station. We don't allow voting through any electronic devices, nor voting over the internet. All votes are placed using anonymous envelopes. This way no one can trace who you vote for, while still securing that only one vote are placed per person (by authentication at entry at voting station, and manually checked of in a list). All vote counting is manual. And we don't have a requirement for registration for voters. Voters are registered automatically, based on if you are allowed to vote (citizenship etc) or not. I would not call a country a democracy if they don't make it easy for everyone to participate in the election. Having the voting take place when most people are working, or require them to register ahead for voting is not how a democracy works.
- Noughmad 10y ago
  We in Slovenia also vote on Sundays. It's nice because everybody can go, but we also have very low voter turnout because most people don't care. This is a problem because religious people vote more than non-religious, simply because they're already out for church, while others don't bother to leave the house.
  - reitanqild 10y ago
    > This is a problem because religious people vote more than non-religious, simply because they're already out for church, while others don't bother to leave the house. I'd assume that what you would see was more religious voters would rather refrain from voting since it was Sunday? The reason why people vote more religiously than you would expect could simply be because very many are religious, even if they don't speak loudly about it.
    - Luc 10y ago
      Do you take an active interest in Slovenian politics?
azernik 10y ago
This was actually the original intention of the Tuesday voting day - if farmers were at church on Sunday, and at market on Wednesday, they could only reliably get to their polling place on Tuesday. This reasoning, clearly, does not translate well to a modern urban economy. The US is in many ways strangely traditional. EDIT: Replaced folk origin with actual researched origin.
- Amezarak 10y ago
  There are tens of millions of people [1] who work on Sundays - something that has occurred as we moved into a 'modern urban economy'. I'm not convinced that moving it to a weekend would make any noticeable difference in the numbers. The weekend is no longer 'special' except mostly for white collar professionals. [1] I couldn't find any actual numbers so I was just looking up retail and restaurant industry jobs on the BLS website, but WiseGeek claims (without a reference) that the BLS says 35% of Americans work weekends.
mrweasel 10y ago
Denmark has one of the highest voter turn outs in the world at somewhere between 80 to 85%. Our elections are always on Tuesdays. So I don't buy the idea that voting on a Sunday would yield higher turn outs. If voters can't be bothered to show up for elections every two to four years, then maybe something else is wrong. Maybe voters don't feel like their vote matter, or maybe you're making it to hard to vote (like in the US where you're not automatically a registered voter). That being said, voting during the weekend might help avoid queue at the polls, though I never experienced having to wait more then 10 minutes to cast my vote.
- reitanqild 10y ago
  Remember that the US citizens have way fewer days off than most Europeans. If, additionally, voting day isn't in the weekend or a public holiday then I'd assume that would decrease turnout measurably.
  - mrweasel 10y ago
    I don't see your point. Danes vote on Tuesdays, either before work or in the afternoon or evening. We don't take the day of to vote. Why can't Americans do the same? The day of the week isn't the issue. I would find it hard to believe that an American would choose not to vote, because it would take 30 minutes out of his or her evening.
    - reitanqild 10y ago
      Ok, I see.
    - hexane360 10y ago
      Well it's at least a compound problem, because in some places in America (usually poor cities and college campuses) voting can take hours. In the suburbs you'll probably be out in a few minutes though. So you either give the day off, or you come up with a solution to fix the underlying mismanagement of resources.
dvirsky 10y ago
In Israel they are held on a Tuesday, which is a mandatory holiday for almost everyone, and there's free public transportation anywhere if you need it in order to vote, which is cool (also, most parties would arrange for transport if you call ahead and say you need help and are planing on voting for them). If held on the weekend it would not allow Sabbath observers to vote. Not sure why Tuesday was picked specifically. Turnout is not that great in recent years though, usually around 60-70%.
cauterized 10y ago
Weekends don't help retail and shift workers, who are least likely to have the leverage to take time off to vote without losing their jobs or even just going hungry due to the loss of a few hours' wages. Make it a whole week, allow mail-in voting without jumping through absentee ballot hoops, or (unrealistically) require all businesses to shut down completely.
- djrogers 10y ago
  Absentee ballot 'hoops'? I realize that voting laws vary by state, but the 'hoop' you speak of in California was me checking a single box one time years ago. Every election since that time I've been sent a mail-in ballot form which I can fill out early and mail in, or drop off at the polling place on Election Day. Barely qualifies as a 'hoop' to jump through, and I fail to see how any other vote-by-mail system could be easier.
  - blakeyrat 10y ago
    In Snohomish County, in Washington State, you get absentee by default. But not every State is California or Washington State. Voting laws vary widely.
  - cauterized 10y ago
    In NY, at least, you have to fill out a longer form [1] giving one of a very limited set of reasons for needing an absentee ballot. "My employer makes getting to the polls a PITA" is not one of them. Nor is "it's inconvenient". Oh, and it's a felony to "make a false statement" on the application form. [1] http://www.elections.ny.gov/NYSBOE/download/voting/Absentee06152010.pdf http://www.elections.ny.gov/NYSBOE/download/voting/Absentee0...
rainsford 10y ago
Where I live in the US, you have a week before election day to vote in-person early and any voter can vote by mail. Plus the polls are open for 13 hours on election day itself. I'm all for making sure everyone has the opportunity to vote, but I'm not convinced there are very many people who can't make any of those options work but who could vote if election day was during the weekend.
- mack73 10y ago
  I'm sure there is a significant amount of people in the US who work two shifts per day. I get the impression this is rather common in the lower to lower middle class. Voting seems hard for these people. But someone here said US companies have to give you time off to go vote, and if this is true then there are no impediments and these people can vote anyway, even though their paycheck for that day is cut by some amount. Some may choose not to, though, even though they beleive in democracy.
  - coredog64 10y ago
    Findlaw[0] has a state by state breakdown of laws regarding the time off. Some require paid leave while others aren't. Rather than a federal voting holiday (which brings its own headaches), lobby your local legislature to add language to make the leave paid. It's more likely to happen in the states that don't have it than it is to happen federally. [0] http://www.findlaw.com/voting-rights-law.html http://www.findlaw.com/voting-rights-law.html
- facetube 10y ago
  Where I live in the US, everyone with any DMV interaction is automatically registered to vote, and receives a ballot in the mail a few weeks before election day with a nonpartisan voters handbook that explains issues, allows candidates to give written statements, and allows anyone to publish a for/against argument for the cost of printing – about $100. We sit at the dining room table, do research, and vote gradually over the course of 7-10 days. Ballots can then be mailed in (with a signature-bearing outer envelope that's stripped away before votes are counted), or dropped off at a library or designated polling place all the way up until election day. Having to take time off of work and physically go to a polling place with a handful of notes is insane to me.
danielhooper 10y ago
I have a hunch that a weekend election could really hurt voter turnout of low income individuals.
dominotw 10y ago
>I think elections should be held on weekends giving the maximum number of voters the opportunity to vote. Nearly one third of the American labor force works on the weekend [1]. Also, Overall the authors note that night and weekend work tends to be less desirable, as it is often performed by people with fewer skills and employers typically offer a premium wage for it. 1.https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2014/09/08/nearly-one-third-of-the-american-labor-force-works-on-the-weekend/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2014/09/08/nearl...
- mtgx 10y ago
  Make it a Sunday and then make it also a work-free day. Then the impact on companies will be minimal.
  - dominotw 10y ago
    Wouldn't that deny income to people who need it the most? Chance to make extra (premium) income on the weekends.
  - kr7 10y ago
    I hope nobody gets sick that day... (Or we could just have multi-day early voting. Like most states already do).
  - blakeyrat 10y ago
    How could you possibly have a work-free day? Who'd drive the bus taking voters to the polling place? Who'd be manning the emergency room at the local hospital, or driving the ambulances, or enforcing the law, or keeping the power plant running, or spotting for forest fires, or... I love the concept of a "work-free day", but I'm guessing that something like 5-10% of the workforce is doing infrastructure stuff that needs, absolutely needs, to happen every day simply to keep society functioning.
    - jessaustin 10y ago
      I love the concept of a "work-free day"... I thought I loved this concept, then I worked in Wellington NZ for a few months, and discovered the only time I could possibly grocery shop was on my lunch break. (In fairness, this was over a decade ago, so things might have changed?)
UlyssesSKrunk 10y ago
I personally strongly support the Australian method. Make voting mandatory. I'm sure some morons may think that "fascist" or something, but it's objectively the most democratic way to do it.
- _asummers 10y ago
  Don't even need to do that. Oregon uses postal ballots and they had 80+% turnout in 2000, 87% in 2004, 85% in 2008, 82% in 2012. That's pretty high, compared to the national turnout of 30% lower in those years. http://sos.oregon.gov/elections/Pages/electionhistory.aspx http://sos.oregon.gov/elections/Pages/electionhistory.aspx
blakeyrat 10y ago
Many counties in Washington State have gone 100% vote-by-mail. Personally, I prefer that solution-- vote when the heck you want, you have several days to fill it in and drop it in a mailbox. I'm sure it wouldn't be popular in States where there's a big push to check photo ID before voting though.
madiathomas 10y ago
In South Africa, elections day is always declared a public holiday. Only essential services workers like healthcare, military etc work on that day. Essential services workers vote before elections. Rest we get a day off. But then again, some people still abstain from elections.
mhurron 10y ago
I would prefer making it a national holiday since I can not vote it would be an extra day off for me. Weekends in the US aren't going to get you more turnout anyway. Plenty of the country works on the weekends so it's not a help there and for those that don't, given taking hours out of your already limited free time or using your weekend for yourself, voting isn't going to win out in a lot of cases.
eli 10y ago
No excuse absentee voting is an easier solution, especially when combined with early voting.
mcv 10y ago
In Netherland they're neither in the weekend, nor a day off. But voting stations are open really early until pretty late, and usually within walking distance, so everybody generally has a chance to vote. If not, weekends and days off aren't a great fix either, because some people have to work on weekends or when other people are free. Generous hours and the ability to vote early or authorize someone else to cast are better to give absolutely everybody the opportunity to vote, I think.

gaur 10y ago

I think elections should be held by mail, so that people can vote on whatever day they damn well please. Some states already do it that way.

seszett 10y ago
This would be much more difficult to make anonymous (though not impossible), add quite a few middlemen, and prevent you from being sure your vote has actually been counted and not tampered with, though. I like putting a piece of paper in a box very much (and elections are always on Sundays in France so you don't have to choose between this and your job).
- finnn 10y ago
  In Washington State in the US the only way to vote AFAIK is by mail. You can go online and monitor your ballot through the processing steps after it's been dropped off.
dsp1234 10y ago
Oregon votes by mail, and I've generally been happy with it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vote-by-mail_in_Oregon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vote-by-mail_in_Oregon
- sxcurry 10y ago
  Agreed - simple, accurate, and allows lots of private time to read the ballot document and make decisions. I'm not sure why more states don't adopt vote by mail.
madeofpalk 10y ago
Wait, this isn't universal in the US? In Australia I went into a prepolling station and voted a week early. Of course, compulsory voting definitely means things like these are required, but it never struck me that other countries wouldn't have the ability to prepoll
- oh_sigh 10y ago
  Voting is a state issue, not a federal one. So, some states support and encourage voting by mail, some don't.
- mjevans 10y ago
  I agree, you /should/ be required to vote. It is fulfillment of your civic duty. Though you should be free to submit a ballot of as little as a single mark (the mark being that you abstain from all contests on the ballot). If you vote in any single one you'd need to complete the rest, to ensure you ballot cannot be tampered with later.
  - anotherevan 10y ago
    In theory voting is compulsory. In practice it is compulsory to show up and get your name marked off. What you do after that in the little booth with just your conscious and a pen is up to you. (I usually take the pen, that's all I've ever got out of politics.)
    - cyphar 10y ago
      > In theory voting is compulsory. In practice it is compulsory to show up and get your name marked off. Since we have a secret ballot, it would be unenforceable for them to say that you had to submit a valid ballot. > What you do after that in the little booth with just your conscious and a pen is up to you. (I usually take the pen, that's all I've ever got out of politics.) Odd, my voting place last election only had pencils. I carried a pen with me (voting with a pencil is asking for trouble).
  - cyphar 10y ago
wtbob 10y ago
The problem with mail-in ballots is that they can be (and often are) mailed in well before all the facts of the election are there.

chvid 10y ago

All things equal; doing on voting on weekends would make people in jobs more likely to vote. Which would be an advantage for one party and not the other.

hueving 10y ago
Each party can now begin arguing about which has more supporters unemployed.
ZenoArrow 10y ago
Part of the reason your country (and my country) has such strong political division comes from the stereotyping of voters. When you have these stereotypes in play not only do you limit your own understanding of different groups, you also encourage them to vote based on what the prevailing attitudes of their social circles happen to be. I see this all of the time, people voting based on making a statement of solidarity with the people they consider their peers (and this applies across the whole political spectrum). If you want a more productive political debate in your country, it doesn't help to pigeonhole people before you've got the chance to know them.
- chvid 10y ago
  Inside politics this is a whole professional field. The effect of changing voting age, voter registration rules, how new parties are registered, whether voting is compulsory, how voting is combined with voting on other issues and so on can be calculated and predicted quite precisely. And you will see that all major political parties are working for the changes that will benifit themselves the most.
  - ZenoArrow 10y ago
    > "predicted quite precisely" The question I'm raising is why it can be predicted. The assertion I'm making is that many people vote in accordance with the norms of their societal influences, not necessarily because they're making decisions based on the vision and competency of the people they're voting for, and by stereotyping people you're only furthering this phenomenon. To put it in other words, I do not doubt that political parties put together statistics on voters to guide their decisions in an election, however there's a difference between doing it publicly and doing it privately, and that difference can be found in how it affects the behaviour of voters. When it comes to predicting in public you should be conscious of the effects of self-fulfilling prophecies. By tying a voting decision to someone's identity within a society you hold back debates based on reason.

jsprogrammer 10y ago

Much easier: you can always register your opinion and every so often we count them all up and call it the election.

wott 10y ago
And the state could just buy this information from Facebook and Google. Modern!

SNvD7vEJ 10y ago

Sweden here: We always have the election on a Sunday to maximize number of voters. Also, voting can of course be posted ahead, and voting can be delegated to an ombudsman if you are unable to attend physically at a voting station. We don't allow voting through any electronic devices, nor voting over the internet. All votes are placed using anonymous envelopes. This way no one can trace who you vote for, while still securing that only one vote are placed per person (by authentication at entry at voting station, and manually checked of in a list). All vote counting is manual. And we don't have a requirement for registration for voters. Voters are registered automatically, based on if you are allowed to vote (citizenship etc) or not. I would not call a country a democracy if they don't make it easy for everyone to participate in the election. Having the voting take place when most people are working, or require them to register ahead for voting is not how a democracy works.

Noughmad 10y ago
We in Slovenia also vote on Sundays. It's nice because everybody can go, but we also have very low voter turnout because most people don't care. This is a problem because religious people vote more than non-religious, simply because they're already out for church, while others don't bother to leave the house.
- reitanqild 10y ago
  > This is a problem because religious people vote more than non-religious, simply because they're already out for church, while others don't bother to leave the house. I'd assume that what you would see was more religious voters would rather refrain from voting since it was Sunday? The reason why people vote more religiously than you would expect could simply be because very many are religious, even if they don't speak loudly about it.
  - Luc 10y ago
    Do you take an active interest in Slovenian politics?

azernik 10y ago

This was actually the original intention of the Tuesday voting day - if farmers were at church on Sunday, and at market on Wednesday, they could only reliably get to their polling place on Tuesday. This reasoning, clearly, does not translate well to a modern urban economy. The US is in many ways strangely traditional. EDIT: Replaced folk origin with actual researched origin.

Amezarak 10y ago
There are tens of millions of people [1] who work on Sundays - something that has occurred as we moved into a 'modern urban economy'. I'm not convinced that moving it to a weekend would make any noticeable difference in the numbers. The weekend is no longer 'special' except mostly for white collar professionals. [1] I couldn't find any actual numbers so I was just looking up retail and restaurant industry jobs on the BLS website, but WiseGeek claims (without a reference) that the BLS says 35% of Americans work weekends.

mrweasel 10y ago

Denmark has one of the highest voter turn outs in the world at somewhere between 80 to 85%. Our elections are always on Tuesdays. So I don't buy the idea that voting on a Sunday would yield higher turn outs. If voters can't be bothered to show up for elections every two to four years, then maybe something else is wrong. Maybe voters don't feel like their vote matter, or maybe you're making it to hard to vote (like in the US where you're not automatically a registered voter). That being said, voting during the weekend might help avoid queue at the polls, though I never experienced having to wait more then 10 minutes to cast my vote.

reitanqild 10y ago
Remember that the US citizens have way fewer days off than most Europeans. If, additionally, voting day isn't in the weekend or a public holiday then I'd assume that would decrease turnout measurably.
- mrweasel 10y ago
  I don't see your point. Danes vote on Tuesdays, either before work or in the afternoon or evening. We don't take the day of to vote. Why can't Americans do the same? The day of the week isn't the issue. I would find it hard to believe that an American would choose not to vote, because it would take 30 minutes out of his or her evening.
  - reitanqild 10y ago
    Ok, I see.
  - hexane360 10y ago
    Well it's at least a compound problem, because in some places in America (usually poor cities and college campuses) voting can take hours. In the suburbs you'll probably be out in a few minutes though. So you either give the day off, or you come up with a solution to fix the underlying mismanagement of resources.

dvirsky 10y ago

In Israel they are held on a Tuesday, which is a mandatory holiday for almost everyone, and there's free public transportation anywhere if you need it in order to vote, which is cool (also, most parties would arrange for transport if you call ahead and say you need help and are planing on voting for them). If held on the weekend it would not allow Sabbath observers to vote. Not sure why Tuesday was picked specifically. Turnout is not that great in recent years though, usually around 60-70%.

cauterized 10y ago

Weekends don't help retail and shift workers, who are least likely to have the leverage to take time off to vote without losing their jobs or even just going hungry due to the loss of a few hours' wages. Make it a whole week, allow mail-in voting without jumping through absentee ballot hoops, or (unrealistically) require all businesses to shut down completely.

djrogers 10y ago
Absentee ballot 'hoops'? I realize that voting laws vary by state, but the 'hoop' you speak of in California was me checking a single box one time years ago. Every election since that time I've been sent a mail-in ballot form which I can fill out early and mail in, or drop off at the polling place on Election Day. Barely qualifies as a 'hoop' to jump through, and I fail to see how any other vote-by-mail system could be easier.
- blakeyrat 10y ago
  In Snohomish County, in Washington State, you get absentee by default. But not every State is California or Washington State. Voting laws vary widely.
- cauterized 10y ago
  In NY, at least, you have to fill out a longer form [1] giving one of a very limited set of reasons for needing an absentee ballot. "My employer makes getting to the polls a PITA" is not one of them. Nor is "it's inconvenient". Oh, and it's a felony to "make a false statement" on the application form. [1] http://www.elections.ny.gov/NYSBOE/download/voting/Absentee06152010.pdf http://www.elections.ny.gov/NYSBOE/download/voting/Absentee0...

rainsford 10y ago

Where I live in the US, you have a week before election day to vote in-person early and any voter can vote by mail. Plus the polls are open for 13 hours on election day itself. I'm all for making sure everyone has the opportunity to vote, but I'm not convinced there are very many people who can't make any of those options work but who could vote if election day was during the weekend.

mack73 10y ago
I'm sure there is a significant amount of people in the US who work two shifts per day. I get the impression this is rather common in the lower to lower middle class. Voting seems hard for these people. But someone here said US companies have to give you time off to go vote, and if this is true then there are no impediments and these people can vote anyway, even though their paycheck for that day is cut by some amount. Some may choose not to, though, even though they beleive in democracy.
- coredog64 10y ago
  Findlaw[0] has a state by state breakdown of laws regarding the time off. Some require paid leave while others aren't. Rather than a federal voting holiday (which brings its own headaches), lobby your local legislature to add language to make the leave paid. It's more likely to happen in the states that don't have it than it is to happen federally. [0] http://www.findlaw.com/voting-rights-law.html http://www.findlaw.com/voting-rights-law.html
facetube 10y ago
Where I live in the US, everyone with any DMV interaction is automatically registered to vote, and receives a ballot in the mail a few weeks before election day with a nonpartisan voters handbook that explains issues, allows candidates to give written statements, and allows anyone to publish a for/against argument for the cost of printing – about $100. We sit at the dining room table, do research, and vote gradually over the course of 7-10 days. Ballots can then be mailed in (with a signature-bearing outer envelope that's stripped away before votes are counted), or dropped off at a library or designated polling place all the way up until election day. Having to take time off of work and physically go to a polling place with a handful of notes is insane to me.

danielhooper 10y ago

I have a hunch that a weekend election could really hurt voter turnout of low income individuals.

dominotw 10y ago

>I think elections should be held on weekends giving the maximum number of voters the opportunity to vote. Nearly one third of the American labor force works on the weekend [1]. Also, Overall the authors note that night and weekend work tends to be less desirable, as it is often performed by people with fewer skills and employers typically offer a premium wage for it. 1.https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2014/09/08/nearly-one-third-of-the-american-labor-force-works-on-the-weekend/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2014/09/08/nearl...

mtgx 10y ago
Make it a Sunday and then make it also a work-free day. Then the impact on companies will be minimal.
- dominotw 10y ago
  Wouldn't that deny income to people who need it the most? Chance to make extra (premium) income on the weekends.
- kr7 10y ago
  I hope nobody gets sick that day... (Or we could just have multi-day early voting. Like most states already do).
- blakeyrat 10y ago
  How could you possibly have a work-free day? Who'd drive the bus taking voters to the polling place? Who'd be manning the emergency room at the local hospital, or driving the ambulances, or enforcing the law, or keeping the power plant running, or spotting for forest fires, or... I love the concept of a "work-free day", but I'm guessing that something like 5-10% of the workforce is doing infrastructure stuff that needs, absolutely needs, to happen every day simply to keep society functioning.
  - jessaustin 10y ago
    I love the concept of a "work-free day"... I thought I loved this concept, then I worked in Wellington NZ for a few months, and discovered the only time I could possibly grocery shop was on my lunch break. (In fairness, this was over a decade ago, so things might have changed?)

UlyssesSKrunk 10y ago

I personally strongly support the Australian method. Make voting mandatory. I'm sure some morons may think that "fascist" or something, but it's objectively the most democratic way to do it.

_asummers 10y ago
Don't even need to do that. Oregon uses postal ballots and they had 80+% turnout in 2000, 87% in 2004, 85% in 2008, 82% in 2012. That's pretty high, compared to the national turnout of 30% lower in those years. http://sos.oregon.gov/elections/Pages/electionhistory.aspx http://sos.oregon.gov/elections/Pages/electionhistory.aspx

blakeyrat 10y ago

Many counties in Washington State have gone 100% vote-by-mail. Personally, I prefer that solution-- vote when the heck you want, you have several days to fill it in and drop it in a mailbox. I'm sure it wouldn't be popular in States where there's a big push to check photo ID before voting though.

madiathomas 10y ago

In South Africa, elections day is always declared a public holiday. Only essential services workers like healthcare, military etc work on that day. Essential services workers vote before elections. Rest we get a day off. But then again, some people still abstain from elections.

mhurron 10y ago

I would prefer making it a national holiday since I can not vote it would be an extra day off for me. Weekends in the US aren't going to get you more turnout anyway. Plenty of the country works on the weekends so it's not a help there and for those that don't, given taking hours out of your already limited free time or using your weekend for yourself, voting isn't going to win out in a lot of cases.

eli 10y ago

No excuse absentee voting is an easier solution, especially when combined with early voting.

mcv 10y ago

In Netherland they're neither in the weekend, nor a day off. But voting stations are open really early until pretty late, and usually within walking distance, so everybody generally has a chance to vote. If not, weekends and days off aren't a great fix either, because some people have to work on weekends or when other people are free. Generous hours and the ability to vote early or authorize someone else to cast are better to give absolutely everybody the opportunity to vote, I think.