Why Do Americans Vote on Tuesdays?

Weekend or weekday is irrelevant. The real issue is that Americans are uninformed and lazy. American Idol probably gets more turnout and people can't name their mayor much less their congressional reps. Tuesday is just an excuse. And those stuck for over an hour only have to do so every four years. I can't imagine the alderman race causes a line.

My math skills are lacking but 82+35 I is more than 100 isn't it?

If traffic around my area gets any worse I'll have to leave on Monday to get to the voting center by Tuesday!

Yes it is - and easily accounted for by the fact that some people work both weekends and weekdays.

I know. I was just being an asshole.

Yet another way we give extra electoral advantages to the more rural, more Republican parts of the country.

Or via Internet.

Election Day should be a national holiday. Polls should be open 24 hours on that day - the SAME 24 hours all across the country. No reporting of exit polls or "calling the state for X" should be allowed until the polls close. And the date for the election should be April 16th, to focus the attention of the voters.

Maybe they work in the F&B industry and weekends are the busiest times for them. Taking that time off is nearly impossible. In case you hadn't figured it out by now, I'm talking about myself. For me, Tuesdays are very convenient considering they are almost always slow days. I can tell you right now that if voting is changed to Saturday, I'm not even going to consider it because I know I can't make it.

So you've never taken a vacation? Sick day, personal day? Never swapped shifts with someone else? If voting's of so little importance to you that you'd go into a pout if the day of the week doesn't accommodate you, would you even bother voting by mail?

Your ideas are intriguing to me, and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.

Online voting will eventually be the norm, but how do you keep it secure?

I never get sick. Yes I take vacation days, but I don't get paid for them. Anyway, why should I have to pay for a right?

You shouldn't. Neither should any other American:

Nearly 1 in 4 US workers go without paid time off

Vote by mail works here in Washington.

I'm on board with Lanz's idea of a 24 hour voting cycle that ends at the same time, and is a national holiday. It would show that we're serious about our voting rights.

But like any other national holiday, how many employers in retail et al would pressure their employees to come to work on Election Day? And those are precisely the people who can't get paid time off in the first place.

Mail-in or some other remote voting would be better.

When would the 24 hours begin? Typically, polling places open at 7am but if they opened at that time in New York, they'd be opening at 1am in Hawaii.

True, but there would be no need to rush. Get off work at 11 PM after a 16 hour shift? You've still got until 7 AM in New York, or 1 AM in Hawaii. 24 hours.

This is what my Dad advocated a very long time ago, like 25 or 30 years ago. Both he and my Mom were typical Mon - Fri 9 to 5'ers and the voting lines before and after work were sometimes pretty long.

I think the time that one has to spend waiting to vote depends on who is running or what else is on the ballot for the city/county/state where one lives.
Sometimes the wait is almost an hour just to get to the sign in place, then you have to wait for a booth to be open. When there are really contentious issues, that wait could be well over that hour.
I believe Oregon basically has ballot by mail only. It is offered here in Texas for senior citizens. And for everyone, to help reduce the long long lines we always have early voting 2 weeks before the scheduled voting day.
I would prefer that it be done either by mail or on line.

The answer to switching with someone is a resounding - are you out of your mind? Folks who DON'T work on the that weekend aren't going to switch with one who is working, cause they usually worked the weekend before, and they want their weekend off. And shift work is hard enough without having to change times just for one day every two years.
Try doing some shift work before offering "solutions" okay?
And the time to get to one's polling place, find a parking place, get in line to vote, vote, then get out of the parking place, and back to work is not JUST an hour.

Let's remember this is one day out of the year where you have to stand in line for an hour. Most people do more than this standing in line for a popular roller coaster or even at the DMV getting their new tags. And in most cases the long lines is only during presidential elections. I usually stroll right in my polling place but in 2004, 2008, 2012 I had a line. I remember 2004 I had an hour wait in the morning and our district is small.
Again, I still do not consider waiting an hour or two once every 4 years to be any undue hardship.

You have 12 hours in which to vote, that is plenty of time.

This is the exact reason liberals use to get voter ID law changed...many of these disinfranchise work in F&B and retail. Why do liberals hate the poor?

But in all seriousness, why not have Internet voting when we already do financial transactions? No more lost ballots, no more hanging chads. Libraries and schools can open up conputers for those without home Internet or phone service.

Disenfranchised voter=my candidate lost.

I don't know, they just do.



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Well, in all seriousness, it's because internet banking has a third and a fourth rail that voting lacks. Voting is too secretive for the voter to be able to check whether their vote was counted, while they can check whether the numbers in their bank account make sense; and because voting settles government, government can't be trusted to step in the way courts and laws and police would if banking went awry.

Still, I'm sure it'll happen eventually, but those are some of the hurdles.

I don't see the problem.. We're allowed to vote during work, and can vote between 7am and 9 pm. More than enough time for anyone interested to vote. And if you can't make it, you can allow someone else to vote for you. By the way we always vote on weekdays too.

Keep it on Tuesday. It's easier for me to travel to all of the six different places I'm registered while everyone's at work. We have no voter ID checks in my state. It gives a whole new meaning to; "vote early, vote often". Know what I mean?