4 ms·

In 2016 Arizona did much the same thing[1] and the outrage quickly died down. Voting should be easy and accessible, we honestly should just have a holiday for

• AndrewBissell 7y ago
  I know part of Bernie Sanders' platform is making Election Day a national holiday. Not sure whether this is part of the other Democratic candidates' plans.
  • tyfon 7y ago
    What we do in Norway is open the polling stations almost a month in advance so people can plan when to vote depending on their schedule. You can also vote by mail before or go to the local "rådhus" or town hall and vote there in case you are going on a long trip/vacation. The election day itself if a normal work day, but on this day no campaigning is allowed to prevent pressure outside of the polling stations by the political parties.
    • owlninja 7y ago
      In Texas anyone could have gone in person and voted starting on February 18th.
      • cameronfraser 7y ago
        They shouldn't even have to go in person, mail in ballots should be the standard.
• gwright 7y ago
  This is an area where I think it is easy to not think it is a problem if you happen to live/vote in a place with reasonably operated polling operations. I've been voting for over 30 years and have never waited more than 30 minutes to vote and it is usually less than 5 minutes yet in a nearby city they seem to have all sorts of logistical problems during every election including long lines, running out of ballots, etc. I think I recall some folks from Australia describing in HN, their system as having an independent agency/office that is responsible for voting operations. Perhaps something like this would remove the disparities we have between polling locations in the US.
  • cdumler 7y ago
    It is not an issue of "do this to fix it." It's an open secret that it is very intentional. You just have to look at the demographics with any sense of integrity. The issue is that there are people who fundamentally believe certain groups should not have the right to vote. They can't actually say "I don't want X to vote because we all know they commit rampant voter fraud" because it isn't politically correct (or true, but the U.S. doesn't care about truth); however, they really believe they are literally fighting a holy/principled war to protect the U.S. The U.S. is being carved apart because there are fundamental beliefs that are beyond being tested for veracity and must be enacted or the "others" will destroy this country.
    • gwright 7y ago
      I don't deny that this happens but at least around here I think Hanlon's Razor is more apt: Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity. In particular the problem areas around me are entirely controlled and populated by Democrats so it doesn't make sense to say that there is some cabal trying to prevent "certain groups" from voting since it is their own constituency that is being affected. Again, to my original point. The experiences are very different from place to place and so you should be careful about extrapolating from individual experiences.
  • belltaco 7y ago
    Australia has compulsory voting, so they put more resources into getting people to vote.
• cameronfraser 7y ago
  Any state that doesn't have mail in ballots for everyone (not just absentees) is doing so intentionally IMO.
  • xsmasher 7y ago
    This is the real fix. National Holiday still doesn't help retail/restaurant workers. "Efficient" polling places that "only" take 30 minutes still require travel and specific timing. Mail-in voting fixes both.