Americans Get Out & Vote!

[Kyler]

It's election today in the USA, so get out there and vote.
Cause if you don't, you do not have any right to complain in the future.

I voted this morning.

I would love to see an national election holiday, where you are required to vote by law!

[Alyeska]

I already voted a month ago.

[The Romulan Republic]

I mailed my absentee ballot last week. Hopefully it arrived on time.

Colorado's Senate race is apparently very close (I'm a Colorado voter), so I'll be eagerly (and nervously) awaiting the results.

[Zed]

(btw anyone from a country saying "we do compulsory voting and it isn't so bad". First off, do you vote by mail? If no, is the election always held in freezing ass cold weather? If no, are the fines low enough that the requirement is more like a suggestion? If no, do you feel bad about being too much of a sissy to overthrow your brutally tyrannical governments?)

Have you considered more polling stations, so that people don't need to wait outside in the cold?

[White Haven]

Have you considered indoor polling stations, or that a voting holiday as the OP posits would give time to spread voting out throughout the day and as such prevent logjams?

Or, yaknow, a goddamned jacket, at worst. Wuss.

[General Zod]

Fuck the polls, I've got mail-in ballots. I sent mine off weeks ago.

[Zed]

Ask a friend to watch after your kid while you go vote. It takes about half an hour to walk a mile, vote, and go back again. Better yet, offer a friend to watch after their kid while he or she goes to vote. Alternatively, go vote first while your partner (if you have one) watches after your kid and subsequently watch over the kids while your partner goes to vote, etc. It's really not that hard to arrange a vote in an eight-hour timespan on a Sunday.

[Soontir C'boath]

Voting on Tuesday sucks. Mandatory vote on Tuesday will suck even more.

[Stofsk]

Why don't you have elections in either summer or spring?

And lol, is it actually stipulated you have to vote on tuesdays and not any other day? How about - the weekend?

[RedImperator]

If you tried to make voting mandatory in this country, someone would sue on the grounds that refusing to vote is a legitimate political protest and protected by the 1st Amendment, and SCOTUS would agree.

That said, there's no reason why you couldn't make registration opt-out instead of opt-in, and have vote by mail in all 50 states.

[Soontir C'boath]

May have objections as sunday is the Christian sabbath and, correct me if wrong, I don't think the Jewish people are allowed to vote during theirs.

[Stofsk]

May have objections as sunday is the Christian sabbath and, correct me if wrong, I don't think the Jewish people are allowed to vote during theirs.

Then they can choose not to vote, as it's completely voluntary.

[Guardsman Bass]

That said, there's no reason why you couldn't make registration opt-out instead of opt-in, and have vote by mail in all 50 states.

You'd probably get a lot of fear-mongering over the possibility of illegal immigrants voting on the conservative side of the spectrum.

I'd go for Same-Day Registration in every state (Minnesota has this already), with the option of Voting by Mail, as well as Election Day being a federal holiday like Labor Day (holding it on a Sunday would be even better).

[Broomstick]

Have you considered indoor polling stations

I've never seen a polling station that WASN'T inside. In a heated building.

Or, yaknow, a goddamned jacket, at worst. Wuss.

^ This.

Going outside to get to the station at all is unacceptable. It's about a one mile walk to city hall for me, and the wait is rarely more than a couple minutes and always inside, but a mile is a long trip when pushing babies through 20 degree air with wind and blowing snow, or through 30 degree air with freezing rain.

Maybe you guys live in a magical fantasy world where nobody walks, the weather always cooperates, the sitter is available 24/7, and babies are immune to pain.

Oh, for god's sake....!

I've lived in the Chicago area for over 25 years now. It's been down to -30 F. For many of those 25 years I didn't even own a car and had to walk or wait for public transportation in sub-zero weather. Boo-fucking-hoo, you big baby. Buy some warm socks and a better coat.

If hauling kids around is a problem then vote absentee ballot. This is not rocket science.

[Broomstick]

Why don't you have elections in either summer or spring?

Think it goes back to the days when most Americans were farmers. Early November the crops are mostly harvested and there's less work to do on farms, so the farmers have the time to walk or ride their horses to the polling place, but it's not so late in the year that there will be really harsh weather along the way.

Of course, in an era of cars and office jobs this is not such an issue.

And lol, is it actually stipulated you have to vote on tuesdays and not any other day? How about - the weekend?

Yes, it's actually stipulated we have to vote not just on Tuesdays but the first Tuesday in November (special elections and primary elections are exceptions to that rule). Sunday was out historically because of business about the Sabbath I think - clearly, not such a consideration today for most Americans.

It should be noted that some locations in the US mandate that workers get leave with pay in order to vote if that's the only way they can get to the polls. (When I worked in Chicago and lived in Indiana I actually took advantage of that rule) Naturally, in such circumstances the worker can be required to submit proof of voting, but that's not a big deal.

In reality, all states have some sort of absentee ballot system and more and more are moving to vote-by-mail or similar systems. In Oregon ALL voting is by mail. The US may move to an entirely vote-by-mail system rather than making election day a holiday.

[Broomstick]

May have objections as sunday is the Christian sabbath and, correct me if wrong, I don't think the Jewish people are allowed to vote during theirs.

Then they can choose not to vote, as it's completely voluntary.

Or use absentee ballots, which allows them to vote early. Even when I was a child getting an absentee ballot was rather trivial, and over time it's become even easier.

[Liberty]

Why don't you have elections in either summer or spring?

And lol, is it actually stipulated you have to vote on tuesdays and not any other day? How about - the weekend?

The constitution states that elections will be held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November. Don't ask me why.

I voted this morning at 7:45, and there was no wait at all. Literally.

[darkjedi521]

Why don't you have elections in either summer or spring?

And lol, is it actually stipulated you have to vote on tuesdays and not any other day? How about - the weekend?

The constitution states that elections will be held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November. Don't ask me why.

I voted this morning at 7:45, and there was no wait at all. Literally.

I believe it is stipulated that way because the first of the month is often when rent/bills are due and they did not want a conflict with people handling business keeping them from voting.

[Broomstick]

I've lived in the Chicago area for over 25 years now. It's been down to -30 F.

And Chicago consistently has much worse voter turnout than Oregon, with its fair and practical vote-by-mail system.

We're also know for the dead voting in vast numbers... to be fair, Chicago voting is probably not an example we want people to emulate.

Clearly, not everyone is as tough and rugged as you are.

Probably not. But with proper attire the average human being should be able to cope with early November weather in New York State.

Apparently the disenfranchised don't even need encouragement, they just need to shut the fuck up and deal with it like real men.

First of all, you're not disenfranchised. Arguably, you are inconvenienced. Second, I'm not a man at all, yet I manage to cope with the weather. Testicles are not required to wear a coat.

If hauling kids around is a problem then vote absentee ballot. This is not rocket science.

Yeah, but it would be perjury. In New York, an absentee ballot must be requested in advance and needs a valid excuse:

Sound like it's time for you to get involved and get a proposal on the ballot to get the rules changed in your state, then.

[Stofsk]

If you tried to make voting mandatory in this country, someone would sue on the grounds that refusing to vote is a legitimate political protest and protected by the 1st Amendment, and SCOTUS would agree.

One thing about the Australian system is you aren't required to vote - just to sign in at the polling place. (The ballots, being secret, couldn't verify who did and did not vote anyway). This loophole might be enough to counter the 1st amendment argument.

Everyone also has to be on the electoral roll down here too. I suspect you don't, but do you guys have to as well? Or is registering non-compulsory as well for the same/different reasons?

If it's not, how would compulsory registration go down?

While Australia has mandatory voting, it also has almost all the mitigators I listed in my first post, so it isn't tyranny: the fine is very small, the location requirements are flexible, and their weather is just generally nicer - even in July, they don't spend much time in the freezing cold throughout most their country.

Unless I'm totally mistaken, most elections I tend to notice steer clear of winter as well. And they're held on Saturdays for pretty sensible reasons.

It'd be brilliant. I betcha if we did that, voter turnout would hover around 70-80% of eligible population, based on eyeballing some stats across the country now. A big improvement with a couple minor changes.

I actually considered voting by mail a month before our last Federal Election, but I chose not to because I couldn't be fucked digging out information on how to do that. Plus every state school is a voting venue, and there's one maybe 5 mins away on foot from where I live, so it's simply convenient to just do it in person.

Of course it's still a great idea, simply because some people will like to get it out of the way as soon as it's called.

Another thing you guys should do is put a hard limit on election campaigns, so like whoever is up for re-election calls for there to be an election (assuming it's not a fixed term, in which case you just stipulate there be no election campaigning until like a month before the day) and then four-six weeks later the election takes place. One of the things that's always been a head-scratcher for us is looking at when you elect presidents and it takes sooooo long. Pretty much an entire year or a good chunk out of one, with an unbelievable amount of money thrown around. It's flabbergasting.

[General Zod]

Nothing about voting in the US is compulsory.

[TimothyC]

Voted around 0920 local. It was busy, but there were no lines. Turnout seemed high, but not as high as 2008. It did seem however that the population was older (although that is probably due to differences in the time of day that I voted).

[Bakustra]

My polling place was pretty oddly situated. It's about 5 blocks from where I live, but it's only a block away from another polling place across the street. Of course, the problem is that I'm in the only precinct of my university campus that doesn't have a polling place on campus. I live in a mail voting state, so I really only have myself to blame. It wasn't that cold out, thankfully.

[Mayabird]

The mail-in systems of Washington and Oregon are, as I've said before, totally awesome and everyone should do it. I rather miss it in Iowa.

Speaking of, Iowa does have early voting so DP and I did it yesterday.

[Ryushikaze]

My polling place was pretty oddly situated. It's about 5 blocks from where I live, but it's only a block away from another polling place across the street. Of course, the problem is that I'm in the only precinct of my university campus that doesn't have a polling place on campus. I live in a mail voting state, so I really only have myself to blame. It wasn't that cold out, thankfully.

I had a similar situation this morning, where two polling places were right across the street from each other. I think one is supposed to account for the inward hub of voters, and the other for the outer block.

Fortunately, the local Uni's very good about providing polling places for students, so you can run to the polling place between classes.