Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
It is well known that Republicans do not want the average individual to vote. The research has been done and they know that the more people vote, the less likely Republicans will prevail in an election.
It is quite hypocritical of them to make a big deal about the possibility of voter fraud (an almost non-existent problem) when in fact they would rather people not vote at all. To prevent 1/4 of 1% (probably much less) of votes being cast improperly they would gleefully throw 5 or 10 percent of the legitimate voters entirely off the rolls, or make it so hard for legitimate voters that they get discouraged.
No shock here. The GOP is constantly on the defense. They've only won 1 presidential election by popular vote. A national holiday would decrease their odds even more by the electoral college.
No shock here. The GOP is constantly on the defense. They've only won 1 presidential election by popular vote. A national holiday would decrease their odds even more by the electoral college.
Making election day a holiday for federal workers is literally one sentence in the bill which is over 200 pages in length. Just quickly scanning the bill, it also:
Requires every state to allow online voter registration
Requires every person to automatically be registered to vote
- with a provision that an illegal cannot be criminally or civilly affected if they're accidentally registered
Allow same day registration and voting
Allow people to change their registration information at the polling place, to do away with provisional ballots
Not allow any third party to interfere with someone being registered
Can't challenge a vote because they don't live at the registered address
Harder to purge voter roles even if notified by a different state that they're registered to vote there
Must allow criminals to vote unless they're in jail for a felony at the time of the election
All ballots must be paper
Polling places must be within walking distance of public transportation stops
That's just the election parts. There are also provisions to introduce a code of conduct for Supreme Court justices (I imagine that could be used to remove them at the whim of the party in power) and a requirement that any candidate for President or Vice president release the past ten years of their tax returns. There also seems to be entire sections taking shots at the President, and about half the bill deals with campaign laws and funding.
But yeah, the Republicans just don't want a new holiday.
Just a way to get all citizens to vote, the more the better for a healthy republic, wouldn't you agree?
We already encourage that with extended early voting, absentee voting and vote-by-mail. In at least 30 states, employers are required to allow employees time off on Election Day for the purpose of casting their ballots. Despite all these opportunities for voters to exercise their franchise, voter participation struggles to exceed 50% most of the time.
Which serves to explain why the making Election Day a federal holiday is such an intellectually vapid canard. Given the ample opportunities that already exist for every voter to exercise their right to vote, there is absolutely no reason to believe that making Election Day a federal holiday is going to meaningfully increase voter participation. Because, as we already have seen...if you, the voter, can't find a way to cast your ballot with all the opportunities made available now, you're simply not going to do it on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November in even numbered years just because that particular day is a federal holiday.
Just a way to get all citizens to vote, the more the better for a healthy republic, wouldn't you agree?
Why?
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
