Support the 99% ... demand elections be national and state holidays

Matt Holck · 14-05-2012 05:44PM #1

.

Functioning democracy requires the people's thought out consent.
The right to vote should not be impeded.
People need time to consider their vote
and discuss that vote with confidants.
Daily worries should be set aside to focus on social issues.

I propose that
Elections be made State and National Holidays
Conscious voting measures the people's desire.
The workweek routine must halt for people to consider their power.

If voting day is a holiday, everyone will know that it is voting day
where they can wake up and for once not be late for work .

Manic Moran · 14-05-2012 08:01PM

Seriously? Do you know how hard it is to vote in this country?

On the odd chance that I am unable to detour five minutes on my way back from work between 7am and 8pm, which is most of the day, I can also (gasp) have my ballot delivered to me at my home, and then delivered from my home to the county registrar after I have filled it out on a time of day and day of the week of my chosing.

What on Earth do you need a day off for?

NTM

Matt Holck · 14-05-2012 11:06PM

people need reverence for their democracy

having a day off in the middle of the week would get the people's attention

.

I'm thinking about dropping the "Support the 99% ... " from the title
as I believe it to be an unnecessary tag for the proposal of Election Holidays.

Though the working class population would benefit by voting with on their day off

I would hope for a stricter holiday in which most stores are closed
like Christmas or Thanksgiving

Overheal · 15-05-2012 01:35AM

People don't have reverence for President's Day, they have reverence for a Day Off.

RichieC · 15-05-2012 01:55AM

Manic Moran wrote: »

Seriously? Do you know how hard it is to vote in this country?

On the odd chance that I am unable to detour five minutes on my way back from work between 7am and 8pm, which is most of the day, I can also (gasp) have my ballot delivered to me at my home, and then delivered from my home to the county registrar after I have filled it out on a time of day and day of the week of my chosing.

What on Earth do you need a day off for?

NTM

Try that if you live in a poor area..

troposphere · 15-05-2012 02:18AM

Some stores don't even close for Thanksgiving or Christmas now. It would just be used as a day off and the numbers voting would probably decrease. I get my ballot mailed to me and really if somebody is not sure when the election is when the campaign lasts for over a year then I don't think that person should be voting anyway.

Manic Moran · 15-05-2012 04:30AM

RichieC wrote: »

Try that if you live in a poor area..

Last I checked, USPS served poor areas too.

Matt Holck · 15-05-2012 08:43AM

Overheal wrote: »

People don't have reverence for President's Day, they have reverence for a Day Off.

President's day is placed on a weekend.
Voting Day invokes a civic responsibility.
I suggest the day of voting be in the middle of the week.

troposphere wrote: »

Some stores don't even close for Thanksgiving or Christmas now. It would just be used as a day off and the numbers voting would probably decrease. I get my ballot mailed to me and really if somebody is not sure when the election is when the campaign lasts for over a year then I don't think that person should be voting anyway.

Pay for working on Voting Day should be doubled that should shut down most businesses for the day.

I am interested in record the votes of as many people as possible

seamus · 15-05-2012 08:59AM

I imagine that, much it would be in Ireland, if you gave everyone a day off and forced businesses to close, people would head off to the beach for the day or in winter they would arrange to gather in someone's house and get drunk.

Voting would not be considered a priority that day and if anything people would be less likely to vote (IMO) because they will have arranged to do things to which voting is not a convenience.

Matt Holck · 15-05-2012 09:57AM

Well then

Maybe they ought to be putting the voting booth near the people's homes

and on the beaches

Paleface · 15-05-2012 10:43AM

seamus wrote: »

I imagine that, much it would be in Ireland, if you gave everyone a day off and forced businesses to close, people would head off to the beach for the day or in winter they would arrange to gather in someone's house and get drunk.

Voting would not be considered a priority that day and if anything people would be less likely to vote (IMO) because they will have arranged to do things to which voting is not a convenience.

If your going to give people a day off to vote then voting must be mandatory by law with a fine for anyone who doesn't.

Loads of countries do this and in some cases they ban the sale of alcohol also.

Matt Holck · 15-05-2012 04:40PM

the people don't support being punished

RichieC · 15-05-2012 04:43PM

Manic Moran wrote: »

Last I checked, USPS served poor areas too.

Poor areas are served poorly with polling stations, it was all over the web last time, showing the juxtaposition between the well heeled areas and the poorer ones. Ques going for miles in one while the other had the mercs pulling in and the sweater draped owners swanning up to the polling desk without even having to wait.

Overheal · 15-05-2012 05:25PM

Matt Holck wrote: »

Well then

Maybe they ought to be putting the voting booth near the people's homes

and on the beaches

When you put voting stations in pretty much every school in the country it's really hard to say you couldn't get to one.

Matt Holck · 15-05-2012 05:35PM

we're still locked to voting only in our districts in San Diego

Manic Moran · 16-05-2012 03:02AM

Manic Moran wrote: »

Last I checked, USPS served poor areas too.

RichieC wrote: »

Poor areas are served poorly with polling stations, it was all over the web last time, showing the juxtaposition between the well heeled areas and the poorer ones. Ques going for miles in one while the other had the mercs pulling in and the sweater draped owners swanning up to the polling desk without even having to wait.

You do know what USPS does, right?

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar · 16-05-2012 06:16AM

opresses the proletariat

also refuses to carry Li-ion batteries, the bastards

seamus · 16-05-2012 08:16AM

Paleface wrote: »

If your going to give people a day off to vote then voting must be mandatory by law with a fine for anyone who doesn't.

Loads of countries do this and in some cases they ban the sale of alcohol also.

So why bother giving a day off? Just make voting mandatory and be done with it.

But, oh wait. That's actually a bit of distorted democracy since the right to not vote is also essential for proper democracy. If you fine people for not voting what you end up doing is distorting the vote because people choose their vote not in the way that they necessarily want, but deliberately in protest at being forced to vote.

Unless you include a "none of the above" or, "I do not accept any of these choices" box on every single ballot, mandatory voting is not democratic.

And banning the sale of alcohol? Yeah, we do that here in Ireland for two days every year. People have the foresight to stock up the day before.

Paleface · 16-05-2012 09:54AM

seamus wrote: »

So why bother giving a day off? Just make voting mandatory and be done with it.

But, oh wait. That's actually a bit of distorted democracy since the right to not vote is also essential for proper democracy. If you fine people for not voting what you end up doing is distorting the vote because people choose their vote not in the way that they necessarily want, but deliberately in protest at being forced to vote.

Unless you include a "none of the above" or, "I do not accept any of these choices" box on every single ballot, mandatory voting is not democratic.

And banning the sale of alcohol? Yeah, we do that here in Ireland for two days every year. People have the foresight to stock up the day before.

Ever heard of spoiling your vote?

In this instance then techincally you voted which is all the counts. You don't pay the fine.

I'm not saying mandatory voting is ideal. There are pros and cons both approaches.

Would you rather everyone voted (spoiled votes included) or only those who actually choose to?

seamus · 16-05-2012 10:03AM

Spoiled votes are a waste because they're meaningless. You can spoil your vote in protest, but ultimately it just goes into a bin along with the votes where someone was incapable of using a pencil correctly. In other words, your protest goes nowhere.

I would prefer that everyone voted and we had a "none of the above" option, or that only those who choose to vote, do vote.

With a "none of the above" option, you can put in place ways of recognising this as a legitimate vote. You can't do that with spoiled votes.

For example, in the Irish system of PR-STV, you might have 5 candidates for 3 seats. Even if there more spoiled votes than there are votes for the next best candidate, these are scrapped and "invalid poll" and as a result you have 3 people elected that the majority didn't want. With a NOTA option, you treat NOTA as a distinct candidate who takes tranfers and everything, effectively "blocking" a seat until a candidate gets more votes than NOTA.

Forced voting leads to spoiled voting or poor voting, which does not enhance the democratic process.

Paleface · 16-05-2012 10:26AM

seamus wrote: »

Spoiled votes are a waste because they're meaningless. You can spoil your vote in protest, but ultimately it just goes into a bin along with the votes where someone was incapable of using a pencil correctly. In other words, your protest goes nowhere.

I would prefer that everyone voted and we had a "none of the above" option, or that only those who choose to vote, do vote.

With a "none of the above" option, you can put in place ways of recognising this as a legitimate vote. You can't do that with spoiled votes.

For example, in the Irish system of PR-STV, you might have 5 candidates for 3 seats. Even if there more spoiled votes than there are votes for the next best candidate, these are scrapped and "invalid poll" and as a result you have 3 people elected that the majority didn't want. With a NOTA option, you treat NOTA as a distinct candidate who takes tranfers and everything, effectively "blocking" a seat until a candidate gets more votes than NOTA.

Forced voting leads to spoiled voting or poor voting, which does not enhance the democratic process.

Your giving way too much power to people with hidden agendas there. They could continually halt the election process until their representative gets elected.

The current system elects the candidate that most people want as opposed to the one that a vast majority of people disliked which is what you are implying.

seamus · 16-05-2012 10:55AM

Paleface wrote: »

Your giving way too much power to people with hidden agendas there. They could continually halt the election process until their representative gets elected.

The current system elects the candidate that most people want as opposed to the one that a vast majority of people disliked which is what you are implying.

It's democracy. If the majority do not want a particular person in power, then that particular person should not be permitted to get into power.

If the process is "continually halted" then it's being halted by the majority in order to get a majority-preferred candidate elected. I'm not sure I understand your issue.

The current system it could be said elects the candidate that the majority dislikes the least. Particularly in the US where the Presidentials are a two-party system, it's seen as picking the lesser of two evils and voting for anyone else is throwing your vote away.
At least if there was a way for the majority to declare that they dislike all candidates, you can force proper democracy.

Amerika · 16-05-2012 05:24PM

Let’s take a vote on this proposal... here are the choices:

( ) LMAO
( ) WTF
( ) LOL
( ) ROTFL
( ) NO

:rolleyes:

Matt Holck · 16-05-2012 09:08PM

there really is no argument

so on to the implementation

Matt Holck · 25-05-2012 01:57AM

I FAXED Governor Brown of California

the petition demanding election holidays

http://voltic.com/0/i/OccupieSanDiego/ElectionHolidayFax.jpg

Manic Moran · 28-05-2012 05:36AM

Election day is 05JUN in CA. I just copped last week that I would be out of town that day on business.

I mailed in my absentee ballot request on Thursday morning. On Saturday afternoon, I received my ballot in the mail. The most difficult thing about this process was finding an appropriate stamp, which I had in my wallet. I'm sorry, but your petition is pointless. Short of them not giving you a choice and just giving you the ballot to fill in from home anyway, it can't be any easier.

I also doubt your theory that people will spend the day off doing election research is going to hold much water. For example, tomorrow is Memorial Day. How many of the people on your block are going to be spending tomorrow at a military cemetary, and how many will be spending it having a barbeque to welcome in the Summer? Why should 'election holiday' be any different?

NTM

Matt Holck · 28-05-2012 07:20PM

Romney rumored at balboa park across from the world beat center 10 am Memorial day

don't get arrested there

>Current law makes it illegal to enter or remain in an area where certain government officials (more particularly, those with Secret Service protection) will be visiting temporarily if and only if the person knows it's illegal to enter the restricted area but does so anyway. The bill expands current law to make it a crime to enter or remain in an area where an official is visiting even if the person does not know it's illegal to be in that area and has no reason to suspect its illegal. (It expands the law by changing "willfully and knowingly" to just "knowingly" with respect to the mental state required to be charged with a crime.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeanine-molloff/trespass-billb1328205.html?

no violence

NO WAR

http://www.mostlyodd.com

__________________________________________

Went down to hear the speech but couldn't hear him from across the street. He sounded like a cross between winny the pooh and elmer fudd.

Here, I am with my sign in front of all the media vans

http://voltic.com/0/i/Matt/MemorialDay2.jpg

No one harassed me and security watchers acknowledged me.
Talked to a man across the street who told me
Arizona already has elections as national holidays (can't confirm that)
He suggested he might be CIA and I said I would count on his humanity

He suggested that the illegal vote was throwing Arizona (doubt that)
I said
I wanted to throw the election by getting more people to vote

Matt Holck · 28-05-2012 07:22PM

barbeque to welcome in the Summer? Why should 'election holiday' be any different?

I think a barbeque would be a fine place for confidants to discuss the election

Support the 99% ... demand elections be national and state holidays

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