When your day starts at 6 am, and 3 pm looks like:
You wish you had early voted.
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 ...
You will have to explain to me why absentee ballots are okay, and early voting is not.
In Texas, an absentee ballot needs to be mailed to an address not where you are registered. It also allows you to by-pass the Picture ID that early voting now requires.
http://votetexas.gov/faq/early-voting
Q: Can anybody vote early by mail (also referred to as “absentee voting”)?
A: Only specific reasons entitle a registered voter to vote early by mail (no longer called absentee voting). You may request a ballot by mail if you:
- will be away from your county on Election Day and during early voting;
- are sick or disabled;
- are 65 years of age or older on Election Day; or
- are confined in jail.
When your day starts at 6 am, and 3 pm looks like:
You wish you had early voted.
I sure would. I voted two weeks ago.
Unintended consequences? Would even fewer parasites vote if those democrats with jobs never had to leave home that day?
“Early Voting”, as currently practiced, is open to anyone for any reason or no reason at all. It was pushed as a way of getting to the polls the people who couldn’t be bothered to vote otherwise, using the same rationale as ‘motor-voter’ which I also oppose.
Traditional absentee balloting, as you reference in Texas, is restricted to those who are physically UNABLE to get to the polls on Election Day for specific reasons. It is for those who are UNABLE, rather than UNWILLING, to vote in-person on Election Day.
If you don’t see a difference, there, I can’t help you any further.
Then I don't understand your previous comment of:
I’ve never understood why getting to the polling place on election day was such a burden.
It seems we agree that early voting is an appropriate means for voting. Several posters on this thread do not seem to agree.
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.
I don't care about those that don't think it is important. I would rather they do NOT vote.
I'm concerned with those that take it seriously, but can have a single day not be available to them for voting.
I have been in the same boat. Because of the nature of the job, an absentee ballot would be justified. You could plan ahead for contingencies, justify the nature of your job if needed.
Elections are supposed to be a day, not a season.
I have a better idea! why not make it April 16?
I don’t see why you want me to risk not being able to vote because I have a job that may require more than 12 hours of my time that day, without previous warning.
No you cannot without breaking Texas law. I plan to be in town on election day, but I don't want to risk (again) of losing my ability to get to voting booth.
They have early voting, mail in voting and drive by voting. Make election day a holiday and people will take Monday off too and get out of town.
And I voted in my first election from college by absentee ballot.
No one is saying that absentee balloting is to be forbidden. There are many people with good reasons for it.
But the idea that people need to have 2 weeks to vote, or have everyone vote by mail, or encourage the stupid and lazy to vote is detrimental to our republic.
I appreciate that your job entails a great risk of not being able to vote on Election Day.
Apparently, you have missed my repeated comments that MY job entails a great risk of not being able to vote on Election Day.
THAT WHAT ABSENTEE BALLOTING IS FOR!!!! GET IT?!?!?!?!
Before they had easy, come-one come-all early voting, I regularly used absentee balloting. It's what I would go back to if my suggested reform of eliminating the modern "early voting" corruption were abolished.
Some on this thread seem to suggest that.
But the idea that people need to have 2 weeks to vote, or have everyone vote by mail, or encourage the stupid and lazy to vote is detrimental to our republic.
As someone who lost the chance to vote, due to unexpected requirements from my job, I will fight hard to keep early voting available to me and the others who work near their homes, but don't have simple 9-5 jobs.
Early voting is for people that pay enough attention to know who they’re going to vote for well in advance. Also makes life a lot easier on the propositions, it always felt funny bringing in a “crib sheet” to remember how I wanted to vote on all that stuff. Now the weekend after the ballot shows up in my mail I fill it out and mail it in Monday, all done. If only there were a way to flag my phone as “already voted leave me alone” and stop getting all the GOTV calls it would be perfect.
It should be a 24 hour period with polls opening and closing at the same time in every state
Not in Texas. That is what early voting is for.
Before they had easy, come-one come-all early voting, I regularly used absentee balloting. It's what I would go back to if my suggested reform of eliminating the modern "early voting" corruption were abolished.
We have Photo ID law required for early voting. That cannot happen with the absentee ballot. I see more opportunities for vote fraud with the mail-in ballot that the early polling booth.
My day started at 7am and ended anytime after 4 pm...but never looked like that!
"- May be required to work during the time polls are open on Election Day".
That would cover folks whose jobs are highly likely to (literally) explode, firemen, EMS, Police, and the like. See the Virginia Absentee Ballot requirements Here and West Virginia Absentee Ballot requirements Here.
Again, I would eliminate the "Early Voting" period.
There should be provisions for, well, provisional absentee balloting.
If you can not make it to the polls on election day, due to your job or other good reason, you vote by absentee ballot. Have some sort of random scrutiny. Your story would hold up to an examination by a judge or official.
That keeps it for those who have good reason to know or suspect that they will be prevented from voting in person.
If you request an absentee ballot and want to vote in person, you need to produce your absentee ballot for destruction.
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