Of all the stupid things that our country does, Election Day might be one of the stupidest.
There is absolutely no reason why Election Day is not a national holiday or held over the weekend. Almost every other democracy on the planet holds their elections on a holiday or weekend, and almost every American who wants their fellow citizens to be able to vote agrees.
Tuesday was established as Election Day in the United States 1845 because it did not interfere with the Biblical Sabbath or with market day, which was on Wednesday in many towns. This was also a time in America when many voters needed to travel a full day by horse and buggy to the county seat to cast their vote.
We vote on a Tuesday because of conditions that no longer apply in this country. Nothing in the Constitution is preventing us from changing the day that we vote, yet the stupidity of Election Day persists.
The only reason to keep Election Day on a Tuesday is to suppress the vote. Make it more difficult for people who already have difficulty getting to the polls.
Primarily young, poor, working class Americans.
Brian Kemp, Georgia Secretary of State and the Republican nominee for Georgia governor, for example, was recently caught saying that his Democratic opponent Stacey Abrams’ voter turnout operation “continues to concern us, especially if everybody uses and exercises their right to vote,” according to audio obtained by Rolling Stone.
The Secretary of the State in Georgia is concerned about everyone in his state exercising their right to vote. This is about as unpatriotic as you can get. It probably also explains why Kemp has spent the last month purging the vote rolls in his state of anyone who is unlikely to vote for him.
Primarily African Americans.
Yesterday a federal judge put a stop to him, but tens of thousands of voters have already been purged from the rolls.
Just imagine what our country might look like if the Brian Kemps of the world were not suppressing the vote and every American used and exercised their right to vote.
The thought makes the likes of Brian Kemp and the Republican party shudder in fear.
Moving Election Day to the weekend or making it a national holiday would almost assuredly helps millions of Americans to vote.
In 2014, for example, 35 percent of registered voters who did not vote indicated that aid they couldn’t vote because of work or school obligations.
On November 6, only 44 percent of U.S. firms will give workers paid time off to vote on Election Day.
Election Day on a Tuesday in November is stupid. It’s also guaranteed to suppress voter turnout and assist Republicans in maintaining majority control in Congress despite the fact that they represent a minority of Americans in both the Senate and House.
Even the President was elected by a minority of Americans.
Majority control at the hands of the minority. Election Day on a Tuesday assists in perpetuating this reality.
There are a lot of stupid things in America.
The Electoral College is dumb.
The fact that marijuana and heroin are categorized equally under US law is ridiculous beyond compare.
Why the Monday after the Super Bowl isn’t a national holiday baffles me.
But Election Day on a Tuesday? Perhaps the stupidest thing of all.
