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[disnut8]

Interesting bit of trivia on Election Day.

We vote in November because Congress decided (way back when), that the harvest was over by then and the weather wasn't too bad enough for people to be able to travel (as traveling was done by horseback).  Tuesday was picked so people could still have their Sabbath at home and then travel on Monday to their polling place, vote on Tuesday and rest the horse, and then travel back on Wednesday.

Anyone who thinks this is pretty old-fashioned and the day to vote should be changed to Saturday when most American people are off work and out running around anyway, raise your hands.  Mine is up.

[elmono311]

*shrug* I'm fine with the way it is. Plus it's tradition.

[LostArtofRolando]

People are lazy now, it'd be even worse if the election was on a weekend.

[Supermercado]

Without even thinking of any ramifications as far as turnout goes if it's on a weekend, I'm all for it being on a Saturday. Or at least mandating that all states have early voting (and preferably early voting by mail; I did that this year and it worked great. No lines, no fuss, and I still got to vote).

[disnut8]

I was thinking of the expense saved for businesses since they lose man hours because they have to let their employees take whatever reasonable time off to vote.  Around here, because you have to vote at your proper polling place, that could be a few hours.  I know for Rich, if he was at the polls at opening of 7:00 (where there was an hour wait anyway), he wouldn't be done until 8:00, then have to drive the hour and a half to work to get there by 9:30 at the earliest.  He's there by 7:30 on normal days.  If he voted after work, he would have to leave work early to drive the hour and a half back home since he's usually not here until close to 6:00 normally.

Also, if one school in a district is used for voting, all schools in the district close.  We had all but one of the major school districts closed for Election Day.  More employees not going into work because they don't have day care.

The early voting backfired here in Georgia.  Too many mistakes made, lines for hours, bad weather, etc.  But 35% of the registered voters voted that way.  And anyone in this state can vote absentee without reason.  It cost me 84 cents (42 cents for the application and 42 cents for the final ballot) but saved me so much time.

I did check the Constitution.  Congress can change the day at anytime.  The first Tuesday in November is not specifically mentioned.  Article II says the day is set by Congress and shall be the same throughout the nation.

[elmono311]

You schools close if a school is used for a polling place? Why? We vote at Marlie's school and they still have school as normal.

[disnut8]

It was deemed too much of a disruption to the classes.  When I was a kid, all the schools were polling places.  That's where you went to vote - the closest school.  And we never closed for that.

But, I will say this again.  Kids these days are way too coddled.  One of the reasons given for closing the school was because of traffic.  And not on the street.  The parents wouldn't be able to quickly drop off and pick up their kids from school.  Yes, we have buses.  No, most kids don't ride them - the parents drive them to and from school.  If a kid does ride a bus, the parents still drive the kid to the bus stop and then wait in their car until the bus comes to pick them up.

After Hurricane Ike when we literally didn't have gas in this city, it was suggested that it be manditory for kids to ride the bus to school.  That idea lasted for about a millisecond.  So we have school buses AND parents going to and from school every day.

[elmono311]

Then they need to stop complaining about inflated gas prices down there. Idiots.