Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Because of Low Turnout, Sanders Filing Bill to Make Election Day a National Holiday
PJ Media ^ | November 7, 2014 | Bridget Johnson

Posted on 11/07/2014 9:59:56 AM PST by C19fan

When the 113th Congress returns next week for its lame-duck session, a senator with a very secure seat — and presidential aspirations — will be filing a bill to make Election Day a national holiday.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said a reason for the legislation, the “Democracy Day Act of 2014,” is low voter turnout on Tuesday.

Sanders said his home state, which had a gubernatorial race, only had 43.7 percent voter turnout, the lowest on record. The United States Elections Project at the University of Florida estimated nationwide turnout at 36.6 percent, the senator noted, with the biggest drop-off among minorities and young people.

(Excerpt) Read more at pjmedia.com ...


TOPICS: Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: elections
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 61-8081-100101-120 ... 161-162 next last
To: Salgak

100% with you on that!


81 posted on 11/07/2014 10:46:00 AM PST by bigbob (The best way to get a bad law repealed is to enforce it strictly. Abraham Lincoln)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 33 | View Replies]

To: bigbob

This sanders guy is a freak and a weirdo. If people don’;t give enough of a cr** to vote, then they shouldn’t vote. All the bum wants to do is give the lazy more holidays.


82 posted on 11/07/2014 10:48:38 AM PST by hal ogen (First Amendment or Reeducation Camp?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 81 | View Replies]

To: lonestar
When I worked on one side of Houston and lived and voted on the other side, I managed to vote on election day.

How about when you work here:

or here:

A thousand miles or more from home for 2 to 4 weeks at a time?

83 posted on 11/07/2014 10:49:07 AM PST by thackney (life is fragile, handle with prayer.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 73 | View Replies]

To: thackney
Here's a clue for you:

I have voted "early" (usually the last Saturday in October) for about the last 10 years, because it's more convenient than voting on Tuesday. I know all about tough jobs in odd places, prior to the last 10 years I voted absentee regularly because my job.

I STILL oppose easy "early voting" on principle.

"Absentee ballots" should be severely restricted to deployed military personnel and the like who are physically prevented from being anywhere near their polling place on Election Day. That's not what modern "early voting" is all about. Modern early voting is all about making life easier for the lazy.

84 posted on 11/07/2014 10:51:13 AM PST by NorthMountain
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 68 | View Replies]

To: C19fan

Frankly, I never heard tell of the length of time, early voting, mail-in voting, absentee voting, on and on and on....if anyone wanted to vote, the time frame would never be an issue in America. Heck, you can even wait ‘til your dead.


85 posted on 11/07/2014 10:52:31 AM PST by JudyinCanada
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: thackney

As implied in #84, I’d give those guys an absentee ballot, same as deployed military.


86 posted on 11/07/2014 10:54:06 AM PST by NorthMountain
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 83 | View Replies]

To: C19fan

Bingo!! My thoughts exactly. The progressive think people are robots that you can simply program.


87 posted on 11/07/2014 10:54:17 AM PST by Jabba the Nutt (You can have a free country or government schools. Choose one.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: cripplecreek

Agreed. If you have to come up with a bunch of ideas to get people to the polls, those are the people who should not be voting anyway.


88 posted on 11/07/2014 10:55:01 AM PST by JudyinCanada
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 32 | View Replies]

To: NorthMountain
Here's a clue for you:

Back at you.

I start work before the polls open. I've had voting days not go as planned. I lost my chance to vote that day.

I vote early, because I see voting as my responsibility and duty. I'm not looking for convenience; (although I like it) I do it to not have my career possible block it, again.

And my daughter 9 hours away at college, should she lose her right to vote in her home town elections? She turned 18 this year and saw voting as both a right and a privilege. If it was a little less convenient to fill out the paper work early to request a ballot by mail, and get is sent back in time, she was still glad to be able to do it.

89 posted on 11/07/2014 10:57:27 AM PST by thackney (life is fragile, handle with prayer.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 84 | View Replies]

To: JudyinCanada

“The United States Elections Project at the University of Florida estimated nationwide turnout at 36.6 percent, the senator noted, with the biggest drop-off among minorities and young people.”

The two groups with the lowest employment rates didn’t show up to vote?

/facepalm


90 posted on 11/07/2014 10:57:31 AM PST by EQAndyBuzz (Ebola: Satan's End Game for Humanity.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 88 | View Replies]

To: NorthMountain

I’ve lost my chance to vote because the problems of the day took us working past 12 hours. I don’t take that chance anymore. I vote early, to be sure I get the chance to vote.


91 posted on 11/07/2014 10:58:54 AM PST by thackney (life is fragile, handle with prayer.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 86 | View Replies]

To: C19fan
Because a lot of people would take Monday off creating a four day weekend and leaving town.

Bingo.

92 posted on 11/07/2014 10:59:23 AM PST by DoodleDawg
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: C19fan

I think they are going to go one better and make voting MANDATORY as they do in Australia.


93 posted on 11/07/2014 11:00:16 AM PST by Buckeye McFrog
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: C19fan

“Because a lot of people would take Monday off creating a four day weekend and leaving town.”

Excellent point.


94 posted on 11/07/2014 11:01:18 AM PST by CodeToad (Islam should be outlawed and treated as a criminal enterprise!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: thackney

We have days when things just. don’t. go. right. in the upstream end, too. I have voted absentee more often than not in the past 20 years.


95 posted on 11/07/2014 11:02:13 AM PST by Smokin' Joe (How often God must weep at humans' folly. Stand fast. God knows what He is doing.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 89 | View Replies]

To: thackney
Once again, you illustrate what traditional absentee ballots are for, and why I have used them in the past.

No, I'm not going to post a pretty picture of what my job is ... I'll just point out that I have missed more than one (primary) election that I thought surely I'd be in town for but then I got that damn phone call ... and had to pack my bags for someplace else.

It happens.

It doesn't change my opinion of "early voting", as currently practiced.

96 posted on 11/07/2014 11:04:52 AM PST by NorthMountain
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 89 | View Replies]

To: Smokin' Joe

After I missed once, I never waited for the last day to vote ever again.

I’ll fight hard to keep that available.


97 posted on 11/07/2014 11:05:26 AM PST by thackney (life is fragile, handle with prayer.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 95 | View Replies]

To: thackney
If I worked in either of those places, I wouldn't have made it on ELECTION DAY...which was my point. When there is a will, there's a way.

I agree with absentee voting by mail.

I don't agree that we need a holiday to vote!

98 posted on 11/07/2014 11:05:27 AM PST by lonestar (It takes a village of idiots to elect a village idiot.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 83 | View Replies]

To: thackney

No, I haven’t. But I have had 70-hour workweeks and long commutes. Four years ago I was out of town for work during the week of the election, but I had enough notice to take advantage of early voting. I understand your point — but it would also seem that most of the people you mention could be accommodated by early voting or absentee voting or mail-in voting. In any case, the ones you site are the hard cases, and don’t account for the half to two-thirds of eligible voters who regularly fail to vote at all.


99 posted on 11/07/2014 11:05:29 AM PST by Southside_Chicago_Republican (If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 77 | View Replies]

To: C19fan

“Democracy”? The United States is not a “Democracy”.


100 posted on 11/07/2014 11:07:58 AM PST by The Toad
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 61-8081-100101-120 ... 161-162 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson