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How would you feel if the U.S. government made the day for voting, a holiday?
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25d
Right, like Memorial Day and the forth of July etc. Half of America gets it off. The other half works over time to make sure the blowout sales go well and everyone can go out to eat afterwards.
I think it’s a great concept. But I think the people who most need the opportunity to vote would still not get it.
Require octuple pay. Over eight hours is dodecatuple pay.
I'd try my damnedest to work as many hours as possible that day if that was the case
It would make it HARDER for most of us that don't get holidays off to vote, since usually I HAVE to work on holidays. They'd have to make it law that we have to be given time off to vote that day.
Why not have the vote on the existing holiday? I'm Australian, always on a Saturday, in every school and town hall, and a few other places, you don't even have to show ID. Free or cheap snack/breakfast provided, fair day with stalls ....and it's COMPULSORY!
That sounds amazing! Some states have actually made it illegal to give WATER to people waiting in line to vote. It’s almost like they don’t want people to vote.
But the same problem remains— people in retail and food services have to work on holidays to provide for all those folks with the whole day off who need something to do. Making something a holiday only makes it more difficult for them to get off time to vote.
Fantastic with mandatory voting sans the BS hoops you have to jump through now.
I agree with the federal holiday part.
I disagree with the mandatory voting part.
Australia has mandatory voting, and both of their political parties suffer for it by being more centrist. The US system has flaws, but at least our politicians need to earn our votes by taking somewhat hard stances on issues.
Centricism sounds wonderful. The Republicans and Democrats in the US are so far right/left that most independent/moderate voters find both parties disgusting. Grass is always greener on the other side tho. Cheers!
Im going to add a little insight to your comment.
Both the democratic party and the republican party are right leaning parties.
The dems are center right while the republicans are far right.
American political spectrum is so shifted to the right that a person like Bernie sanders that would be considered a center left in many other countries is looked at like a commie traitor even by people in his same party.
Many of the centrist candidates for presidency in the two main parties are still center right leaning.
Yea, it's great.. if you like things how they are. Look into Australia's problems getting any kind of rights for same sex couples and you'll see where the threads of neutral idealism pull apart.
Belgium also has compulsory voting and was one of the first countries in the world that legalized same sex marriage. I think the problems are not with the compulsory voting, but with the parties people did vote on.
Yeah, day off allowing everyone who wants more flexibility to vote is cool. Making it mandatory isn’t.
The whole country doesn’t shut down when there’s a holiday lol
You underestimate the greed of companies. They will 100% make people work on election day. In my state, companies have to give you time to go vote during your shift if you work on election day.
Yes they do, and that excuse is they don’t HAVE to vote. I’ll still vote, but have nothing against those that choose not to vote.
Who supports Ukraine more? Yeah i’m voting for that guy.
I Germany we vote on a Sunday. You can walk to the next office, too.
In New Zealand it's Saturdays.
Still wouldn't solve the problem of how many people that don't have office jobs work on weekends. It would actually be significantly more difficult for me to vote in person on a weekend day then a weekday because weekends are the busiest days at work.
Ppl still wouldn’t “….”!
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25d
You do realize that Republicans don’t want more people to vote and often create obstacles at the state level to discourage participation? That is why it isn’t a national holiday.
People use their paid holidays to do leisure and family stuff... they're not spending the day to go vote.
It's worth noting that not everyone gets federal holidays off work. After all, stores are still open, hospitals and other emergency services are still running, etc.
Universal mail-in voting works just fine. A major reason that the extreme right oppose it is that it successfully enables workers to vote without needing to arrange time off from work.
Also if everyone had the day of then parents are going to be with their kids. Nothing sounds worse than dragging my 5 and 8 year old to go stand in a boring line. Transportation to polling places is a pain as well. Mail in voting solves all of these problems and let's you fully research each candidate and issue in your leisure before voting.
It should be a national holiday! What is more central to who we are as Americans than voting?
And people would take Monday off to make it a 4 day weekend.
I feel like that should have happened years ago
I only learned that isn't like that in US here. I'm from Irelsnd and we've a bank holiday for voting and I took that for granted rly.
Everywhere else is like this. The US is behind.
It should be. But we know they don't want us to vote really
What the fuck it isn't?
Here in Chile voting is mandatory, not voting comes with fines, public transportation in every voting day is free, and there are multiple voting center in every city, throughout each city, using public schools as voting centers, so they are close to residential areas. only work allowed is essential work, like hospital, maintenance workers, guards, etc. the military is deployed to every voting center to secure peace. every citizen has the chance to be called to do civic duty and work on the voting centers FOR PAY (refusing to do so also comes with fines).
The more I learn about the US the more backwards it becomes to me.
True freedom, fined for choosing not to vote, lmao
I’d go for it.
I'd still have to work along with millions of other service industry people.
Or make it like Australia and have it on a Saturday.
But then all those people who don’t get time off to vote (working class) would actually get chance to vote and be represented.
Nope
Many states have a voting leave law that requires employers to give their employees time off to vote. People just don't take advantage of it.
Anyone opposed to this is just afraid of how the millions of lower income Americans who can’t miss work might vote.
The people who can’t get the day off to vote are the same people who wouldn’t get holidays off anyway… so, I think it would be pointless.
I’m a nurse, it’s not like we can just say “no life saving surgeries today, gotta vote!”
I'd rather see the voting period stretched over several days, including a weekend, so everybody has a chance to get to the polls. I guarantee low-wage workers who simply cannot afford to take a couple of hours off unpaid are not going to do so. A single parent who has to get their kid to day care and then get dinner on the table doesn't have time to vote early in the morning or late in the evening.
Make it as easy as possible to vote.
My state has 100% mail in voting. You get your ballot delivered a few weeks before the due date along with voting materials (a booklet of candidate statements and measures to be passed) and you take your time getting to research how you're going to vote and fill it out at your leisure. Then you can either mail it in or drop it in a designated voting box at any time up until the cut off time on election day. There's a little tab with a qr code on your ballot and you can check online to see when it's been received and counted. I love it!!
Great, but not at the expense of mail in voting and drop boxes. I often have to work a 12 hour shift at the hospital on Election Day.
No, it will be like Veterans Day where the post office and banks are closed but everyone else has to work. That won't help voting participation at all.
Right now, we have safe digital platforms that allow us to pay taxes online. I don't see why we can't also vote online, over a period of 7-14 days. Make it as convenient as possible so more people participate.
Most elections are on a Tuesday. We're talking about making something a holiday, let's push it to a Friday or a Monday huh?
My state mails a ballot to every voter. People vote at home and drop off or mail the ballot back. Election Day is just the deadline for getting those ballots back.
Making Election Day a federal holiday will not solve the issue of workers not getting time to vote. Most employers will treat the new holiday as a regular workday just like Columbus Day.
It would be a government holiday, which means a good number of people would still have to work.
Currently, we have plenty of time to go vote, so I don't feel like we need a special holiday for it. If we did, many people might wait until that day to go vote, making those places very crowded.
They should!
Better. I would feel better.
A public holiday is only a public holiday for people over a certain income level, office workers etc
Every public holiday you can order pizza and go shopping which means people are out there working
If it was truly mandatory, like a mass shut down, people would find loopholes like classing people making or delivering food as essential workers like nurses so they can’t take the day off
They need to increase accessibility like more locations to vote, more methods like mail in votes.
It's a holiday in Israel. One of the few things my country is actually doing right
Then it would have some significance to me
Australia knows what's up and the US would do good to copy them!
Literally no different
I think voting day should be a national holiday, and October 1-14 should be policy awareness weeks, where city halls host community level debates, schools talk policy (hopefully parents get engaged with homework), big issue rallies are held (climate, guns, police, abortion, taxes, etc). Somehow, culturally we take a few weeks to learn about the issues together, have a few weeks to mull em individually, then we have a feee day to vote, and it’s ranked choice.
I'd be good with it, but I sincerely doubt we'd see any increase in the number of people voting. Those who want to vote, will do so even if a bit inconvenient. Those who don't care, won't vote if you knock on their door.
I don't understand why they don't vote on a Sunday?!
In Brazil it is mandatory even if you've moved to another country.
Wait... It's not?! It is in my country and I assumed it's the same in every democracy.
I would vote.
Many people don’t care about voting, that’s on them. If you don’t vote , you don’t count. Again that’s on them. I vote in every damned election possible.
I’d still have to work on that holiday.
I wouldn't vote, that's for sure.
Its easy to vote on the way to work, or the way home. I'm not using my holiday to vote.
Like in every normal country?- it will never happen!;)
Should have done it long ago
It always should have been. It is in most other democracies
True mandatory holidays are not possible in all fields. Voting would need to be extended to a longer time and everyone would get one of those say three days off.
I'd say it's about damned time. It should have been this way already.
Should be. I give my guys the day off with pay.
Anything that encourages civic participation, I'm for. Add it along with improving access to mail in voting.
Or move election day to a weekend.
Won't ever happen though. One party is hell bent on preventing as many people from voting as possible
They need to make it a Saturday or Sunday. Although I have been voting by mail for over 20 years so really doesnt matter to me.
Yeah. That's as needless or a statement as the comma was in your sentence. For America being such a democracy you'd think the goverment would celebrate the ability to vote.
Then Happy Birthday to me (that’s my actual birthday)!
…or not, depending on how it goes. RIP.
I already get the day off. Our offices are closed for election day. Everyone should get that.
Or, you know, on a Saturday like so much of the world has done for aaaaaaaaaaaaaages.
Every other 1st world nation does it. Same with universal healthcare.....🤷
EVERYONE NEEDS TO SPEND JUST 5 MINUTES looking into how INDIA does their elections.
If INDIA can have EVERY SINGLE PERSON vote then surely the US can do the same.
It’s fucking amazing how Indias election process is. Chaotic as fuck and amazing.
elated
Meh. In all likelihood it would drive voting numbers down. Nobody has time to vote on a holiday. Myself, I'd be barbecuing. But, I'd have mailed my ballot in weeks prior.
Or you can do mail in voting like us in Oregon and everything is easy peasy lemon squeezy.
They should do that tbh. I think a lot more people would vote if you have the whole day off work/school to do it.
If they made an extra holiday, they would make sure you spend it at work
They should but it will never happen as long as Republicans are able to stop it. Voter suppression is literally the only way they can win
Still wouldn’t vote for
It is crazy that it isn't.
Great!
The more holidays the better!
I love it! A day off with absolutely nothing for me to do.
A majority of the ppl in this sub will NOT care
it's effort better spend allowing people a way to vote online instead.
Is not on a Saturday for you all?
I'm very much in favor of this. But in light of all the gerrymandering and voter suppression and "some people just aren't educated enough to cast a vote" I think it's extremely unlikely that such a measure would ever get serious bipartisan support.
I’d still have to work.
Great idea. There are so many people who cannot vote because of their work or inability to reach a ballot box. Voting should be easy and accessible for all Citizens.
Vote early, get the day off anyways. Sounds good. Vote by mail get the day off anyways. Sounds good. But, serious question, given that federal elections are still run by individual states, wouldn't it be up to the states to implement this?
I'd rather we be able to vote on the topics the house and senate perversely keep stalemate.
Hell no, I dont want to be gypped a days pay from missing work
Retail would still find a way to stay open😩😞
Voting is pointless lol
Democrats could never win another election
It should be!
It would be a pain in the butt because the kids would get off school and it would make it harder to actually vote.
Either that or on a Saturday. Would make so much more sense. It's ridiculous that has never happened.
I honestly just do mail in ballots, but I think it would be a good idea to make it a Holliday
They absolutely should!
Fantastic. I know of a local school district that does it.
I'm more concerned about why it cant be done digitally/online
I think that it misses the mark completely. People still have to work on holidays. There are critical services still being manned even if you make voting day a required day off for most people.
The in-person voting stations and voting period should be open for at least three days, not just one. Ideally a full week of available in-person voting should be created.
Europeans vote on sundays
So the politicians can make VOTING a FEDERAL HOLIDAY, but they can't negotiate with the private sector to bring down inflation?
A Federal holiday, would not matter much now would it, because the private sectors stores are still going to be open. The only people who get the federal holiday off are US military, federal judges, federal courts, maybe some state services and probably public schools will have the day off. The Private sector will still have to go to work.
Now that I think about it, a Federal Holiday, would be a good reminder, for federal voting day. Even though not everyone will get the day off. Even in US military, not all of them will get the day off. First Responders have to work, so not everyone will always get the day off. Hospital workers, federal, state, private sector have to work on holidays.
Healthcare workers and other industries still gotta work tho.
Indifferent... because no matter who wins, we lose! We'll keep being ineffectual unless it's about prioritizing corporate greed, printing trillions at record pace, and fueling Isreal's genocide. It's just a matter of how much billionaires can benefit from tax cuts while literally everyone else keeps getting squeezed until they break.
Crippling predatory medical debt with health insurance conditionally tied to employment and the defunding of education while complaining about how broken it is is very popular right now! /s
Wouldn't change a thing
It is so strange Americans have elections on Tuesdays... just move it to a Saturday or Sunday like a normal developed nation
I would be shocked that the US government did something smart and good for once, not to mention something that is actually democratic.
I would hate that shit tbh
Saturday voting combined with early voting and mail in voting is how its done in australia and its an absolute piece of piss. Of course, half our government doesnt go out of its way to make sure huge chunks of the population cant vote. Yet.
Wtf ?
Why ????
That would not suit the people who like preventing people from voting.
It's a good first step, but it needs to be backed up with universally available mail-in voting, mandated time off to vote (including in local elections), and a precipitous increase in polling and drop off locations.
Quite frankly, we have one party in this country that only half wants you to vote, and another that just doesn't. A highly engaged populace is not what our leaders want.
Good
It should 100% be a day everyone has off to be able to vote. The fact that it is not a day off for everyone shows how shitty people in government are. Also fuck you republicans.
Yes!
Wholeheartedly support, Ive long thought this should be a thing, with events and stuff on voting day to make it like a winter fourth of july.
Do what Australia does.
Voting is mandatory. Voting happens on Saturday. You can postal vote.
Like for the bus drivers needed to bring many voters to the polling places?
They can take away Presidents Day or Columbus Day and give us Election Day off.
I would love it.
I would rather have the day off for local elections. They are not doing anything to benefit me on the federal level. They may have one stance you agree with, but dig a little deeper and you will find about 40 you absolutely do not. Regardless if you’re a dem or a republican.
They should! Most work places I've been to make it a holiday.
No feelings are involved, those who do not care, would still not vote, unless their vote could be stolen.
I think mail in ballets and a tax credit for voting would be more productive.
There already is, it's called Memorial Day
It's not on a weekend like the rest of the world?
Free day off atleast
Absolutely support it
Better yet, make it a Saturday and Sunday. Voting weekend.
It should be a few days and mandatory paid time off from work. Workers could be guaranteed one of x days off, paid, to do their civic duty. That way, people working jobs that perhaps can't miss a certain day and people who can't afford to miss work if it was otherwise unpaid time off are able to participate as easily as those who can be given a day off (government workers, office workers, school employees/students).
We had our elections last month and the day was declared a public holiday. Yes those who did work qualified for what we call 'special votes', essentially meaning they come to you at an arranged time so you can vote, so this not only for elderly or disabled people. Not in my country and my knowledge in terms of politics is limited. For one I do not even vote.
Unlike the USA we do not have a democrat/republican system but essentially some 100+ parties on the voting ballad which people can vote for. This year, for the 1st time in 30 years the ruling party and thus govt received only ~40.2% and the need 51% so that means they are busy forming a coalition government and man it is chaotic, but the outcome will be mentioned this Friday (we are ~8hrs ahead of you, I say ~8 because the US is so massive it has what 3 or 4 time zones?).
Any rate just saying the did make it a public holiday over here. Apologies for imposing if I did, it is not my intention.
In the UK there have been a few different days of the week for voting at an election.
Election day now is a Thursday - since the 1920s.
The logic at the time was: Working people were paid on a Friday, so they would be in the pub spending their pay - on a daily basis..
Thursday was the day when most people had no money left from the previous Friday, so were more likely to go and vote.
The tradition has stuck, hence elections are still on a Thursday.
Nice idea.
What about those that work "holidays"? They would be working.
I would love this.
You guys don't vote on Sundays ?
What good is the Right to Vote if your job or your lack of decent transportation or rural location, etc., prevents you from voting? It should be secure and accessible to every eligible citizen. Ever seen a bookmobile? Rural school bus? Amazon/FedEx/UPS truck? Anywhere and everywhere. Yeah there should be a day off to vote! It can't be government Of the People, By the People, and For the People if there are too many restrictions, political shenanigans, exclusionary loopholes, etc., for the citizens to vote!
I still wouldn't.
It isn't already?
Voting day is a holiday in India. Our turnouts already aren't great, so I assume the holiday is making it look decent cos most people wouldn't be able to take time off
Esp since lines can be so fkin long
It takes an hour to vote. Why do you need the whole day off?
Honestly this is the way.
I still wouldn't vote because you'd need half a lifetime to do enough research beneath the sham stuff to accurately determine if this person was really worth your vote in the first place! It's more like a grab bag than what ever it was intended to be so why bother? Doubtless, the people best-suited for the job don't have the money to have a hat in the ring; voting is just the way those who do make the rest feel included, needlessly!
Australia only votes on Saturdays. Not a holiday for everyone but we have complusory voting, with a substantial fine for not voting.
I like it. More holidays in general is not the worst idea given the current state of worker’s rights in the USA. Especially a day for voting would appreciated.
In my country voting always happens on Sundays and lasts from 7 am til 9 pm to give the maximum amount of people a chance to vote.
US elections should be at least this accommodating.
Make it so. Even third world countries do.
happy
I'm down.
THE US DOESN'T CONSIDER VOTING DAY A HOLIDAY? THAT IS SOOO WEIRD AF
It makes no sense to me why it isn’t a federal holiday. At the very least it incentivizes voter participation and could be a celebration of some sort that we have the right to vote freely in our democracy
Optimistic and proud.
It should've been from the start.
Like it was at least trying to be a democracy, which it is not currently.
Would not like that at all, the US or any other country shouldn't have anything to do at all with our voting system or voting days.
The amount of time already available to vote when you consider early voting is huge. It would make basically 0 difference.
Im always down for another paid holiday.
would it work so everyone can vote? not here in the states. Theres early voting, weekend voting, absentee voting, etc Having an entire day off, 99.9% will use it f’ck off.
we need to skip these middleman politicians and just vote on the internet which corporations can do what.
it's crazy that they haven't.
Vindicated. I’ve wanted that since i I was 18.
I would prefer no voting unless you have served in the military .
In Pakistan, although elections generally mean very less, it's still a very big day and we either have it on Sunday or we have a holiday on the election day.
I love it. Make it a national holiday like Christmas. There will still be a couple of places open like gas stations, but set the expectation to be everyone is casting their ballots.
It should be a holiday so everyone can vote without work restrictions
We would have a more accurate representation in government. So many people can't take the day off to go vote and don't know about things like absentee ballots
Lol civilised places already do this
How about Sat or Sun
No. Just no
Why not just make voting on a Saturday?
I honestly couldn’t give a shit what US does with their voting
VOTING DAY IS NOT A HOLIDAY IN THE US!?
I’d rather just make voting mandatory, like paying taxes & jury duty. Everyone must cast a ballot; if you don’t like the choices you can pick “none of the above”. Eliminates all the shady voter intimidation and obstruction from the Right.
Isn’t this the case in many countries? If the US wants to claim to be the bastion of democracy, it should have election day as a national holiday.
I’ve always held that this should be the case, seems like basic common sense.
It should be a mandated day off work or at the very least no job can mark any employee for showing up late or leaving early to vote as long as they can show their proof of voting
Sure, as long as we also eliminate drop boxes and mail in voting
TBH, It's a much better idea than vote-by-mail. Help make voting a social/positive event again instead yet another way we've learned to avoid interacting with other people.
Or just use postal ballots, and no one needs to take any time out to vote.
Making election day a holiday significantly harms those in low income jobs that don't get paid time off or the ability to take a "holiday".
Want to increase voter turnout? Hold elections on the weekend.
It would be exceptional
Republicans will NEVER allow that. We don't need presidents day.
Like we live in a world that makes sense. America lacks sense.
I think thats a good idea. I also think they should make Wednesday a holiday
As it should be
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