Election Day 2016, A National Holiday?

[xoxoxoBruce]

There has been a push to make Presidential Election Day 2016, a national holiday. Bernie Sanders has already introduced a bill to do that. Not surprisingly, the movement has also caught fire on Twitter, with an online petition asking Obama to make it so.

On the last national holiday what did you do? Go to the movies, a restaurant, shopping? How did those businesses operate if everyone had the day off? I guess a national holiday doesn't give "everyone" the day off. Most of the employees in those businesses are lower income people this movement is supposed to help.

But America today is a different landscape for workers—in a culture where Americans get little time off, whether it’s to vote or do anything else. Forty-two percent of Americans didn’t take a single vacation day last year, partially because they felt too economically insecure to afford it and partially because many of their employers actively discouraged them from doing so. Meanwhile, 23 percent of American workers did not receive paid vacation time, 24 percent did not receive paid holidays, and nearly 40 percent did not receive paid sick leave.

The polls are open from early to late, damn few can't make it with a little effort.

As a result, a Caltech/MIT survey on voting patterns discovered that three of the five most common reasons given by eligible adults who did not vote had an economic component to them: they were too busy, they struggled with transportation, or they faced registration problems.

I suspect they were giving socially acceptable reasons, or ones that conformed to the check boxes in the poll. They didn't want to say they went to their fuck garden and the rabbits had eaten them all. That's the answer I hear most often, along with, Why bother, it's rigged, Big Money has already bought the election, or They're all crooks anyway.

The U.S. Census found that only 47 percent of eligible adults with family incomes of less than $20,000 a year voted in the 2012 presidential election, compared to 80 percent of those whose earning exceeded $100,000. Overall, only 19 percent of likely voters come from families with incomes of less than $30,000 a year, even though that same group comprises 46 percent of nonvoters.

Similarly, because the poverty rate for Latinos and black Americans is almost three times that of whites, non-whites are disproportionately likely to not vote; although these groups comprise only 22 percent of likely voters, they make up 43 percent of non-voters.

That makes sense, who would be more discouraged about the system, and less likely to keep rabbits out of their fuck garden, than the poor.

As teeth grinding as the Citizens United fiasco, and secret Super Pacs are to me, I really wonder if it makes that big a difference. I guess it does in that by financing campaigns they're buying politicians loyalty, but I'm skeptical about voter influence of those campaigns. After all, the election is a year away and 95% of voters have already made up their minds.

[glatt]

The thing that amazes me is that the local politicians are the ones who really have a major impact on your daily life. And yet voter turnout in local elections like the one two weeks ago is something like 25%.

I don't know your local issues, but my local issues include school overcrowding and budget woes. And since the local politicians get to set the property tax rates and property assessments, they can dig right into my wallet in a way that the feds can't. I am amazed that 75% of the population is willing to let the 25% run the show.

[xoxoxoBruce]

About 400,000 Kentuckians have qualified for Medicaid coverage under the Affordable Care Act's more generous standards, and approximately 100,000 more signed up for private health insurance policies through Kynect, according to a spokeswoman for the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Families. The share of Kentucky residents without health coverage fell more than 11 percentage points between the end of 2013 and June 2015, Gallup reported in August. Only Arkansas experienced greater improvement, with its uninsured rate declining by more than 13 percentage points.

So what happens? 12.5% of the voters bother to show up on election day and elect the Republican candidate who campaigned on the promise to get rid on Medicaid and Kynect insurance exchange.

[tw]

In early days of rock and roll (when most radio stations refused to play it), a rock and roll stations always had five minutes of new at the top of the hour. Kids were so informed as to be among the first to see lies about Vietnam.

Today's kids have almost no news. Many are so emotional as to not want to hear news because "it is so depressing". Extremists make decisions based upon their emotions. Only moderates routinely learn facts to then have an informed conclusion.

Scary are so many kids who never learn what is relevant. Who are therefore manipulated by their emotions. Who are primed to become extremists. And who vote in pathetic numbers because they don't know what reality is.

[Happy Monkey]

Here's an excellent idea. Instant runoff voting would allow you to actually vote for your favorite candidate without worrying that a split vote between your top two would let your least favorite in.

[Lamplighter]

OR, vote by mail.

One time party registration handled thru DMV
Change party affiliation handled by mail thru DMV
Change of address handled by mail thru DMV
Voter ID handled thru DMV

No travel to polls
No need to take time off from work
No need to accomodate children, pets, weather
No need for voting-machines
Eliminates Republican-manipulation of vote turnout

It has been working fine since 1988
- even the Oregon G.O.P. is satisfied with it
- ~70% "voter turnout" in Oregon !
- used as in all elections in Colorado, Oregon and Washington

[Happy Monkey]

Why "OR"? The concepts are orthogonal.

[Lamplighter]

OR as in an alternative to proposal in xoB's OP
OR as a link to the Wikipedia article

...whichever floats your boat.


But you used a word that was new to me: "orthogonal"
It set me off on an enjoyable exploration into it's use/meaning.
I got into it's various uses, but in computer programming, it lead
to the Capability Maturity Model (CMM) assessment levels of processes and development.

Applying the five Key Process Areas (KPA 1-5) to Oregon's experience with Vote-by-Mail,
it's clear our elimination of old school voting booths is now mature,
and meets Oregon's original [orthogonal] goals !

In any case, I think I learned a lot ... and no hub caps were stolen !

So, thank you




.