presidential voting day should be a national holiday....

The day we vote for president should be a federal holiday in which NO ONE GOES TO WORK! What do you think?

It’s a nice idea, but businesses and schools will never go along with it, because they’d be afraid people’d skip Monday and take a 4 day weekend.

Isn’t it?

I know I got off of school on election day.

I’ve thought that this would be a good idea for some time. It could just as easily be done on a Monday instead of a Tuesday. I think the biggest resistance this would face is from employers who, holidays generally being annual event, can plan for the same, or similiar, days off every year. There maybe some difficulty in dealing with a holiday that only would come to pass ever 4 years. Outside of that I can not think of a good reason not to do it.

I think there won’t be anyone to count the ballots, silly.

Seriously, though: what about public transportation workers? How are the carless going to vote?

Do you want it to be a national holiday because you don’t want to go to work another day or do you want it to be a national holiday so that more people will have the free time to vote? Either way, the same thing could be accomplished by moving election day to a weekend, or by mandating the polls in each state be open 24 hours.

The one time I’ve missed any work to vote (I was just late, didn’t miss the whole day) my supervisor was very understanding. She recognized the importance of what I was doing.

I really like the idea some countries have of multi-day elections. I want thursday, friday and saturday. You could encourage A-K surnamed people to vote the first day. And L-Z surnamed people the second. And if they didn’t get the opportunity to vote by saturday, they’d do it then.

Never, ever, ever going to happen.

I’m far more interested in changing the ridiculous presidential primary system, so that all Americans, regardless of their state of residence, play a role in selecting their party’s nominee. Right now, there are still 20 states which have yet to hold their primary/caucus. But why should they bother? Voter turnout in those 20 states isn’t likely to be meaningful except, perhaps, in states with gubernatorial or senate races also going on.

It would be cold comfort to have easy access to the polls or a day off of work or some other “get out the vote” measures taken when there are huge numbers of Americans who are effectively disenfranchised in the primary season by virtue of an arbitrarily chosen date.

The three-day voting system sounds like a nice solution… On a side note, my calc professor is always commenting on the presidential candidates and seemingly trying to raise awareness (which i think is absolutely awesome). Anyway, he holds a class “raise your hand poll” weekly and I am utterly suprised to see how many people actually raise their hands when he asks who “doesnt care”. Frickin disgusting… Thanks for your thoughts

But voting happens every year! Presidential every 4, State Legislature every 2 years, local city offices mostly every 2 years, in the odd numbered years. So here in Minnesota, there’s hardly every a year without an election.

Now the OP only referred to Presidential elections, but I think you’d want to keep the same system for all the elections. If you change Presidential elections to Monday, you should do the same for the rest of them.

It seems that the simpler solution to the turnout problem is the German one - vote on Sundays!

The polls are opened from 7am until 8pm. By law, employers have to give you extra time to vote. That could be a longer lunch, leaving early or getting there late. If you absolutely can’t make it, you can vote absentee.

What problem are you trying to solve by giving everyone the day off?

Haj

How about people who commute for an hour or more every day to get to work? They have to vote in their home precinct…that’s a LONG lunch!

If you offer the alternative of being registered where you work instead of where you live, what about people who work in one state and live in another (NY/NJ/CT, for instance)?

Uh, yeah, which is why said that you could also get there late or leave early. You could also vote absentee which is actually much easier to do even if you live and work close to the polls.

Your idea of being registered at work or home is a good one but still has problems. What if you work in a different congressional district than your home? What about city elections?

Haj

IF the purpose of the holiday is supposed to be to increase voter turnout, it won’t work. No matter HOW easy you make it, people won’t vote if they’re not motivated.

Here in Texas, people can vote at a host of public places (supermarkets, for instance) for several weeks before any election. Heck, I almost NEVER vote on the day of an election or primary! I almost always vote weeks before, because it’s so convenient.

Now, for my own convenience, I’m happy that that I can vote at any number of locations, almost any time I want. So, I certainly want the current system to remain in place. But has this setup increased voter turnout in Texas? Nope. Not a whit. Turnout continues to decline, year after year. People who WANT to vote will do so even if it’s inconvenient. People who AREN’T eager to vote won’t do so, even if you make it as ridiculously easy as we have in Texas.

Support a holiday if you want another day off. Just don’t kid yourself if will make your fellow citizens more civic minded.

Cite?

Aussie system:
Compulsory voting on Saturdays. Any type of reason not to go (ill, out of town, overseas, at work, religious reasons) is covered by absent votes, or pre-poll postals.

Anyway, it doesn’t bother me. It only takes five minutes.

For you, anything.

http://www.whad.com/labor_library/Voting_Time_Off_Laws.htm

Apparently it varies from state to state. In some states it’s paid time off and it others it’s unpaid. In some states you only get the time off if your working hours would have made it impossible for you to vote.

Haj