As a non-American, I don’t know exactly how your polling works, but why am I seeing “plan your voting day” or “set a voting strategy” like they’ve done on the Cards Against Humanity voting campaign?
Where I live, it’s just show up on voting day and cast your ballot, or ask for a mail in ballot, or go to a special voting station if you need (or want) to vote early. Is it the same in the US, and this is just getting people to gather those last pieces of information early and put a reminder in the calendar? Or is there more to it than that?
Thanks!
Lines can be long, polls have limited hours (often conflicting with work hours), a person may need a ride to the polling location, etc. Some states have stupid rules like you can’t give people in line to vote food or water, which makes standing in line for hours more challenging.
Wait, you can’t give people food or water if they’re standing in the line? Why the hell not?
And hours in line?? What? Why!
As many have mentioned the real reason is to suppress votes by making the experience miserable.
The cover story for the rules is to prevent campaigns or other groups from “buying votes” by giving people in line food/water in exchange for a promise to vote for their candidate.
To discourage people from voting. As was pointed out elsewhere, the Republicans only really flourish when a small number of people vote. So they make it as inconvenient as possible for people who are lower income, usually people of colour.
Wait what? And that sort of things is legal? Are you serious? You know, there are countries where voting is obligatory, and others where it is made as easy as possible.
Wait til you learn about Gerrymandering. I’ll not get into it in depth, but essentially the local/state government in the US will set up voting regions to guarantee that one party has a massive advantage.
Bruh the shit going on in Ohio this election cycle where LaRose has reworded (see also the abortion amendment where his “summary” was longer than the actual text of the amendment) the ballot to obfuscate the actual intent of Issue 1 to make people vote No which helps consolidate the Republicans grip
It’s ridiculous. My wife is relatively intelligent and she doesn’t understand the wording on the ballot and I explained to her that despite the reading, a No vote will continue the status quo. Like I’m a free speech kind of guy but just put the damn text on the damn ballot like don’t bullshit us Frankie!
Fuckin schmucks
But if they don’t do everything they can to obfuscate the ramifications of voting No then everyone would vote Yes!
They know what they’re doing is against the wishes of the majority, otherwise they would put the choices in plain language, or weight the obfuscation the other way…
Must be nice.
Wait what? And that sort of things is legal?
Technically no, if it can be proven that the goal is racial discrimination specifically. Every so often there’s a lawsuit claiming just that. Problem is, it tends to get resolved by the Supreme Court which is two-thirds chosen by the “let’s make it harder to vote” party.
Reading this discussion has made me understand a little bit better why America seems to be always on fire…
Because certain people with power find it advantageous to make it difficult for the people in certain areas to vote. If you know that district isn’t going to vote for you, and morality is a thing that happens to other people, you could make the polling place too small with too few workers.
“We hate that poors get to vote in our country. Don’t they know that this was a country founded with the ideals that only landowning white men could vote? Apparently they changed that law at some point, so we just make new ones to make the poors not want to vote. Like depriving them of things they need to live if they choose to do so. It’s what they get for being poors. Johohoho!”
- American lawmakers in poor, conservative states
In all honesty, it’s fucked. It’s so fucked.
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It’s voter suppression. By limiting the number of voting locations and understanding them you make long lines where people will wait for hours to vote. By not allowing food or water to be handed out they hope people will get discouraged and leave the line. The official reason is that it could be construed as a bribe to vote a certain way.
Because the people making those rules don’t want those people to vote. They figure, if it’s that much of a hassle, they won’t turn out. Meanwhile, in Republican-strong areas, they have multiple voting locations and very short lines.
Yikes! And I thought that gerrymandering was playing dirty. This is just next level stuff…
The American political system will do everything it can to prevent poor people from voting
I’m guessing you might be from Canada (Hello up there friend)!
Because certain groups in power are total pieces of @#$_&-+/!
Which States Ban Giving Food and Water to Voters at Polling Places?
Elections in the US didn’t used to be so controversial, but in the last 10 years certain groups/parties have been crying foul (baselessly I might add) about illegal voting.
You are supposed to be able to go to the polling place on election day and vote. There are limited voting hours (generally about 12 hours), it is not a national holiday (should be), your employer does not have to give you time to vote (paid or not). You might be able to vote via postal mail (but it varies by state what “valid reasons are” to do that).
The US really needs election reform nation wide.
A holiday could help but it’s not a real solution. Think of how emergency services will have to stay operational as an essential entity. Now think of the shitty retail companies that will call themselves essential businesses. You may get some compliance from some retail, but not all. Probably not most. Look at every other solemn non-denominational holidays like memorial day or labor day. Not only do stores stay open, but they have sales for those. People work the hardest on labor day! And that is the group least likely to vote and most likely to swing.
12 hours is usually long enough for people to not be at work at some point, but I’d much rather see a 20-24 hour window. Cover those stuck on double shifts. Cover super commuter workaholics. Cover the person who needed to catch a movie first.
Or do literally anything else to improve our archaic system. It’s intentionally kept obtuse and atrocious to keep out the people struggling the most while the other end mails a vote from Aruba.
Recent changes in Michigan extended it from 1 day to over a week, joining several other states offering early voting options.
“The early voting period begins the second Saturday prior to Election Day and ends the Sunday before an election. However, communities may decide to provide additional days of early voting. Under state law, communities can offer up to 29 days of early voting.”
https://www.michigan.gov/sos/elections/voting/early-in-person-voting
Or Cancun (heard that from someone named Ted).
I agree (and realize) that a simple holiday wouldn’t fix the many ills of our “election system”. Just thought it would help. I’ve heard that England has at least a week to vote [hope that’s true]. Anything that would make it easier and more convenient to vote would be a great help (not suggesting making the process less secure).
In Nebraska, I get my ballot by mail way in advance. I fill it out at my leisure, doing research on candidates as needed. I can then either mail the ballot back or drop it off at one of several locations around town (including any of the public libraries). I haven’t voted in person in years. This method is so much better.
Murica.
This was literally the overarching plot for the last season of curb
Because it might be seen as bribery to get them to vote one way. This country has pulled every piece of bullshit in every direction when it comes to voting
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Studies have shown that if you ask people to make a plan for voting, they are more likely to actually go out and vote. It’s even cited in the FAQ of cards against humanity.
So we ask people to make a plan because it’s an efficient way to make them more involved and more likely to actually go out and vote when the day comes. Not because it’s so hard that they need a plan (unless you live in certain states of course), but because it forces you to think actively about it rather than just passively.
America has been turned into a dystopia by republicans where in order to vote, you have to provide birth certificate, social security card, a signed permission slip from your late parents, a blood sample, a piece of the Shroud of Turin, a moon rock, and 75 thousand dollars in unmarked non-consecutive bills.
I’m in Texas. The serials on the bills have to follow the Fibonacci sequence.
In Ohio you can’t use a rock from our moon. Neil might’ve loaned you one from ours
If you’re a conservative however, all you need is a drivers license or state ID, and the names of all your dead relatives who are also voting.
And then they save you time by giving you a ballot with all the Republican candidates already checked.
If you live in a swing state there might be a lot being done to make voting difficult.
And if you don’t live in a swing state your vote doesn’t matter enough for any party to try and sabatoge voting efforts. If this is Democracy then democracy doesn’t work.
There is plenty of sabotage in poor and minority districts in non-swing states. There is more on the line than just the presidency.
Yup, down ballot races matter just as much, if not arguably more. This says nothing of ballot issues or tax levies as well.
Ehhm, you call the US a democracy??
Some do, I don’t think so though.
Anywhere you’ve got decades long republicans in office you will find it extremely hard to vote in America. Elsewhere it’s relatively easy. In Colorado I literally don’t do anything, a booklet explaining all the laws shows up in the mail a few weeks before the ballots do, then the ballot shows up and I can either drop it off in one of the numerous drop boxes, put it in the mail, or ignore it and go vote in person where the lines are short because nobody votes in person.
Not always. I live in Alabama. Usually in and out in 20 minutes. But then I do live in a more suburban area.
How does a country like the US have hours long lines…
Because pubs like to deter voting
(Hey, non-Americans: “pubs” means “Republicans.” Bars and pubs don’t care whether we vote or not.)
I’ve been to a couple bars where you get a discount on a drink if you have an “I Voted” sticker.
Intentional voter suppression.
It really depends on location and turnout.
Here in my town, the longest I’ve ever waited was a minute or two. Small population, and plenty of booths.
When I lived in a city, I only voted twice, but both times I was waiting maybe ten minutes plus a little. That was, as I was told, average for that polling place. It was a church basement (not in the dank and drippy way lol), so it was a tad small for the number of people in the district. But, over at a school gym that was a polling place, I had a friend wait nearly a half hour. Despite the bigger space, the turnout was huge, and not typical for that specific polling place.
They try to make sure a space is big enough (when everything is working right) for the district, but it doesn’t always work perfectly.
Then, you’ve got locations where the voting organizers are willing to fuck over a specific district and the polls will be under staffed, have too few booths, and may have other impediments to getting things done efficiently.
So it’s not really a single factor that goes into the crazy wait times. Nor is an hour in line the default.
Tx… makes sense.
This is uneducated speculation but what if more people are going to vote as elections get crazier and voting centers aren’t used to the higher volume?
We don’t have these issues here in Minnesota. Plenty of polling places, short lines.
Here in Duluth I live right across the street from the church that is a polling station. Never taken me more than ten minutes including the walk there and back.
This, however, is not the case in many more densely populated areas that tend to be more blue. There are often long lines for few polling stations. In some places you really do need a plan to be able to vote, especially if you are balancing it with other responsibilities like work or childcare.
For anyone who hasn’t waited hours in line to vote - your democracy sounds nice, the rest of us have to work real hard to make sure our (often less impactful due to the EC).vote counts.
Definitely, my situation would not be normal in Minneapolis, where I was born and grew up. There it was a little more chaotic, longer lines, but still not terrible.
Minnesota hasn’t been one of those states desperately trying to keep people from voting, thankfully.
And we are trying to keep it that way.
i vote in every election and ive never even seen a polling place. i don’t know why people would need to go to one
The US has had a long history of restricting who gets to vote. Originally it was only white land owning males, then it has gradually progressed into what it is today. Some states are cool with who gets to vote, others are still upset there are certain groups of people who get to vote who they wish didn’t (and actively work towards restricting or removing their rights), so those upset states constantly create as many barriers as possible to disenfranchise groups of voters they don’t like. If you’d like to see how awful it has been before, I suggest reading about Jim Crow laws.
