Political Discussion

RenegadeMonster said:
There are also the people who work retail or in the food service industry that simply can not make it out to vote.

I remember when I was working in retail, it was pretty much like yeah, you can't take time away from your shift to go out and vote. You can either vote before work, after work or during your lunch break if you live close enough and could pull it off in 30 minutes or less. If you took more than 30 minutes that's a write up. Asking if you could skip out to vote and return to work would just get you laughed at by management.

There are a people who this does not work for. Whether they got stuck with a double shift, or their obligations with getting their kids too and from school or child care. They just couldn't make it to the polls while they were open.
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Which is also why Election Day should be a federal holiday. One of the best ways for Republicans to win elections is to constantly suppress the vote anyway possible. But I do think a lot of people regardless of whether it was a holiday still wouldn't vote. Probably still 20% or more.
 
RenegadeMonster said:
There are also the people who work retail or in the food service industry that simply can not make it out to vote.

I remember when I was working in retail, it was pretty much like yeah, you can't take time away from your shift to go out and vote. You can either vote before work, after work or during your lunch break if you live close enough and could pull it off in 30 minutes or less. If you took more than 30 minutes that's a write up. Asking if you could skip out to vote and return to work would just get you laughed at by management.

There are a people who this does not work for. Whether they got stuck with a double shift, or their obligations with getting their kids too and from school or child care. They just couldn't make it to the polls while they were open.
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That’s why voting early and by mail are so important.
 
Twentytwo said:
Which is also why Election Day should be a federal holiday. One of the best ways for Republicans to win elections is to constantly suppress the vote anyway possible. But I do think a lot of people regardless of whether it was a holiday still wouldn't vote. Probably still 20% or more.
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Hate to burst your bubble but the majority of people who find getting to the polls on Election Day difficult would actually be more hindered by it being a holiday.
 
Nee Lewman said:
That’s why voting early and by mail are so important.
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Up until Covid, voting by mail wasn't an option in Massachusetts. Sure you could vote by mail via an Absentee ballot, but those are handled differently. And may not be counted unless the election was close enough for them to make a difference.

As for early voting in person, only some communities have it. It's not something that's available state wide even today.

I'm sure there are parts of the country where both are not an option.
 
Twentytwo said:
Which is also why Election Day should be a federal holiday. One of the best ways for Republicans to win elections is to constantly suppress the vote anyway possible. But I do think a lot of people regardless of whether it was a holiday still wouldn't vote. Probably still 20% or more.
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Especially with the fuckery the Republicans have created in certain voting districts. It blows my mind that it's possible to have to stand in line for up to 8 hours and past when the polls close in some districts. That's a big deterrent. Especially if you have kids to watch.

Voting should be quick and easy.
 
Twentytwo said:
Probably so, any reason to not vote. Don't worry the Boomers will always vote.
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To @RenegadeMonster ’s point, if your boss is unsympathetic to the barriers on a normal day and you work in food service or retail… you’re still going to have to work and if you have kids and do that kind of work now you have to deal with them being out of school. Early voting and voting by mail are the best solutions to get everyone to vote. Education is the next key.
 
Is early voting not an option for most people? At least here in Texas you can early vote until next Saturday. So the polls are open 7-7 and you can vote at any valid polling location as long as you have your ID. I realize a lot of states put up barriers to voting. I know we're planning to vote next week so we can avoid the mess on election day. Though our typical polling place is fairly easy to get in and out of. My oldest is going to be a poll worker on election day since she has the day off from school. She's excited to get some money for doing that.
 
RenegadeMonster said:
Up until Covid, voting by mail wasn't an option in Massachusetts. Sure you could vote by mail via an Absentee ballot, but those are handled differently. And may not be counted unless the election was close enough for them to make a difference.

As for early voting in person, only some communities have it. It's not something that's available state wide even today.

I'm sure there are parts of the country where both are not an option.
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I’m not saying that it is omnipresent, but it absolutely should be.

Suppresion is 1. Restricting access. 2. Making it hard to vote. 3. Not counting your vote.

Not allowing for working people to get to the polls meets 1 and 2.
 
mdmost said:
Is early voting not an option for most people? At least here in Texas you can early vote until next Saturday. So the polls are open 7-7 and you can vote at any valid polling location as long as you have your ID. I realize a lot of state put up barriers to voting. I know we're planning to vote next week so we can avoid the mess on election day. Though our typical polling place is fairly easy to get in and out of. My oldest is going to be a poll worker on election day since she has the day off from school. She's excited to get some money for doing that.
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I think we are at most at this point but nowhere close to all.
 
mdmost said:
Is early voting not an option for most people? At least here in Texas you can early vote until next Saturday. So the polls are open 7-7 and you can vote at any valid polling location as long as you have your ID. I realize a lot of states put up barriers to voting. I know we're planning to vote next week so we can avoid the mess on election day. Though our typical polling place is fairly easy to get in and out of. My oldest is going to be a poll worker on election day since she has the day off from school. She's excited to get some money for doing that.
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In MA it's by town/city. If your city has earlier votings there are certain hours or days (you have to check with your city for when), that you can go into the town/city hall and cast your ballot early. In some cities there might be only 1 day a week early that you can do this while others you can do it any night in the 2 weeks leading up to the election. But some cities, or smaller towns have no early voting options whatsoever like the town my mother lives in.

The addition of Mail In voting in MA since Covid helps with this giving more access finally. But a lot of people don't trust mail in, especially conservatives in this state. Both my father and step father look at mail in ballot options as a good way to not get your vote counted and that they are full of fraud. There are initiatives to make mail in ballots illegal because of potential fraud in this state :rolleyes: Luckily, being a blue state none of that passed, but I think it's only a matter of time before it becomes a ballot question.
 
I am sure I have made this point previously but WA State should be the model for voting nationwide. We get a booklet 6 weeks ahead and our ballots about a month in advance. I can sit at my desk for an hour and really dig into the ballot and then either mail my ballot back (at any mail box or post office) or if I am a procrastinator I can go to any ballot drop box up until 8 PM election night.

Election Day is tired, Election Month is wired!
 
Nee Lewman said:
To @RenegadeMonster ’s point, if your boss is unsympathetic to the barriers on a normal day and you work in food service or retail… you’re still going to have to work and if you have kids and do that kind of work now you have to deal with them being out of school. Early voting and voting by mail are the best solutions to get everyone to vote. Education is the next key.
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Yes but lots of Republican stats do not allow either, Alabama for instance does not have mail in or early voting. At least Tennessee has early voting.
 
Twentytwo said:
Probably so, any reason to not vote. Don't worry the Boomers will always vote.
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Like @Nee Lewman was saying these are the jobs that aren't going to get the holiday because they're busy on holidays. Unless it can be a federally paid holiday that mandates places close (and that's so anti-capitalist that they'd rather give up on democracy than try that) it doesn't help those specific people really. But it does help a ton of others. Still I think early voting and mail in voting are the key solution here until we can find a way with quantum encryption or some as yet unthought of security measure to secure online voting. It'll take some time to get there with the public's lack of trust.

But until we break Citizens United, demolish the two party system, and give democracy into the hands of the citizenry, a lot of people will not see the point in voting. Things that don't personally effect them aren't going to drive them to the polls. Like all those anti-choice women who quickly change their tune when they need an abortion. Lack of empathy and shitty candidates picked by rich assholes and presented to us as a choice are going to keep voting from being fixed or from fixing things.
 
Hemotep said:
But until we break Citizens United, demolish the two party system, and give democracy into the hands of the citizenry, a lot of people will not see the point in voting. Things that don't personally effect them aren't going to drive them to the polls. Like all those anti-choice women who quickly change their tune when they need an abortion. Lack of empathy and shitty candidates picked by rich assholes and presented to us as a choice are going to keep voting from being fixed or from fixing things.
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All of this.
 
Hemotep said:
The fact that different states can have that much control over federal elections is also mind numbingly stupid to me. How folks in Alabama haven't had their own revolution is crazy.
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Cause Alabama is the worst. Seriously while I hate the weather in Florida, Alabama and Arkansas are the only places I’ve ever been that I have no desire to return to.
 
Hemotep said:
The fact that different states can have that much control over federal elections is also mind numbingly stupid to me. How folks in Alabama haven't had their own revolution is crazy.
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You live in Georgia right? Alabama might as well be another planet. Ran by Governor Meemaw. I went to school at UA but other than the major cities there, people are just different.
 
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