341–350 of 458 posts
But my brother is so aware of the value of his time that he doesn't post on HN.
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How would making election day a federal holiday increase voter turnout among anyone not working for the federal government. Plenty of federal holidays are working days for my company.
And plenty aren't... Many companies actually respect that every single company I worked at in the 10 years I've lived in America respected Christmas and New Year Day for example. I don't get your point, your situation is not the same as everyone else.
Hey everyone. Debra Cleaver here, founder of Vote.org. I am ready to answer all of your questions about voting in the US, as long as they are non-partisan. Partisan questions should be directed to your local political party. I'm especially keen to talk about ways we can use technology to modernize the election process. My current focus is how we can use electronic signatures to roll out online voter registration in s…
They were passionate about their hatred of the opposing party's most-tweeted person, and clueless about what their person's positions were, the states they were from, their voting history, their "moral fabric" as it were...
Point is, screw my friends. If they only Facebook-Care(TM) about politics, they shouldn't be encouraged to vote anyway. They do not get to decide my country's fate.
In fact, I want the opposite.
I want a test. Step one: Name 3 people in your primary and name 3 in the opposing party's primary. Who is your party chair? Who's in the majority in the house? Who're the senate majority and minority leaders?
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>So it should be that party's right to decide who gets to partake in that decision. I mean, would it make sense for a whole bunch of Republicans to come and vote in the Democratic primary? It shouldn't matter if a Democrat is voting Republican or the other way around. People can change their minds, and should not be disallowed to vote if they find that the other party is doing a better job in making the country a bet…
But primaries are about political parties choosing who should represent them aren't they? Political parties are private clubs. If you aren't a signed up member of that political party why is it any of your business to have a say in who represents them?
If they had that role removed, they would still be able to endorse a candidate or agree to all vote for the same candidate or whatever.
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And plenty aren't... Many companies actually respect that every single company I worked at in the 10 years I've lived in America respected Christmas and New Year Day for example. I don't get your point, your situation is not the same as everyone else.
There's almost no companies that I know of that give off MLK Jr. Day or Presidents Day off. It's even a joke that only govt workers get those holidays off. Most places are not going to change their time off policy no matter what federal holidays are, if it's important for a company to have election day off they would already give it off, some official stamp of Congress isn't going to change anything outside of public…
People will still need to work on election day, but the amendment could specify a minimum amount of time be available to participate in the election.
(still, early voting makes more sense to me than that)
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But primaries are about political parties choosing who should represent them aren't they? Political parties are private clubs. If you aren't a signed up member of that political party why is it any of your business to have a say in who represents them?
Why should private clubs be determining who is on the ballot? If they had that role removed, they would still be able to endorse a candidate or agree to all vote for the same candidate or whatever.
Ted Cruz can still be on the ballot if he wants to can't he? As an independent? How could the Republican Party stop him?
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Put a gun to people's head to vote? I can think of few things more morally reprehensible than that. An individual should determine how, and if, they participate in civic life for themselves. The view that sees individuals as simply so much chattel labor existing for the benefit of whichever bureaucrats running the state at a given moment is simply unsupportable by any sort of real logic. To give you warm and fuzzies…
The other parts of the process also have shenanigans, yes. Those are worth fighting against, too. I have no problem with people making protest votes and am genuinely confused by your implication that I would have a problem with people turning in blank or random ballots.
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Why should private clubs be determining who is on the ballot? If they had that role removed, they would still be able to endorse a candidate or agree to all vote for the same candidate or whatever.
I don't know much about US politics but I don't think they are determining who is on the ballot are they? They're determining who can claim to be the official Republican Party but I don't think there's any reasonable grounds to say that that's wrong. Ted Cruz can still be on the ballot if he wants to can't he? As an independent? How could the Republican Party stop him?
It's a complicated morass of rules that would cost a lot of money:
https://ballotpedia.org/Filing_deadlines_and_signature_requi...
In contrast, the parties essentially have a reserved nationwide slot that they fill after many months of media circus.