3 ms·

Automatic voter registration and making voting day a national holiday is such a no-brainer improvement that it's a pity USA can't get it done. As a South Korean

Automatic voter registration and making voting day a national holiday is such a no-brainer improvement that it's a pity USA can't get it done. As a South Korean voter, this has been standard for decades.

MBCook 8y ago
Our system is the way it is for whatever haphazard reasons got us here. My impression is there wasn’t every any real planning outside of Jim Crow laws to keep minorities out of the electorate. But we can’t automatically register people because young people disproportionately support one of the two major parties, and that would be ‘unfair’. And we can’t make Election Day a holiday because the people who work so much going voting is a hardship disproportionately support one of the two parties. And it would ‘hurt business’. On the other end we can’t require IDs to vote people that would disproportionately hur the other party. And we can’t spend the resources to fix that because it would be ‘too expensive’.
- lopmotr 8y ago
  Americans are so concerned about how other people vote but why not just vote for who you want if you want to? If you really really want some party to win, then take the day off work somehow, however difficult. If you can't be bothered with that level of effort, then you care about your day at work more than the election, so don't vote and be happy with whoever wins. In my country, for me, voting was complicated so I didn't. Now the winner is doing things I don't like so I've decided to vote next election. I'm not going to go waving banners and insulting people who want to vote for someone else. I'll just privately find a party I like and go vote for them. I don't yet know which party that is! Americans should try that too - research what they actually want and who's likely to do that, instead of voting with their tribe. Once you become locked to a tribe, your vote loses its power because your tribe's party can do anything it wants without losing your vote. If you want election reform, then you'd better not have voted for either other two main parties because it's in their interests not to allow others in.

MBCook 8y ago

Our system is the way it is for whatever haphazard reasons got us here. My impression is there wasn’t every any real planning outside of Jim Crow laws to keep minorities out of the electorate. But we can’t automatically register people because young people disproportionately support one of the two major parties, and that would be ‘unfair’. And we can’t make Election Day a holiday because the people who work so much going voting is a hardship disproportionately support one of the two parties. And it would ‘hurt business’. On the other end we can’t require IDs to vote people that would disproportionately hur the other party. And we can’t spend the resources to fix that because it would be ‘too expensive’.

lopmotr 8y ago
Americans are so concerned about how other people vote but why not just vote for who you want if you want to? If you really really want some party to win, then take the day off work somehow, however difficult. If you can't be bothered with that level of effort, then you care about your day at work more than the election, so don't vote and be happy with whoever wins. In my country, for me, voting was complicated so I didn't. Now the winner is doing things I don't like so I've decided to vote next election. I'm not going to go waving banners and insulting people who want to vote for someone else. I'll just privately find a party I like and go vote for them. I don't yet know which party that is! Americans should try that too - research what they actually want and who's likely to do that, instead of voting with their tribe. Once you become locked to a tribe, your vote loses its power because your tribe's party can do anything it wants without losing your vote. If you want election reform, then you'd better not have voted for either other two main parties because it's in their interests not to allow others in.