Let's make voting family friendly!

[drm604]

Voting needs to be more family friendly. Families have responsibilities and obligations. They sometimes work multiple shifts and have to worry about watching young children.

In particular, single parents (often widows and widowers) are sometimes solely responsible for watching young children and can have difficulty finding the time between working and caring for their children to get to the polls while they're open.

Early voting or mail in balloting are family friendly ways of voting. Who could be against that? Surely we want families to vote!

[Odin2005]

1. ACORN!!! ILLEGALS!!! DEAD CHICAGOANS!!!

Oops, sorry, I was channeling the GOP, there...

[NYC_SKP]

2. If they're working hard long hours, have kids, and can't get away, they're Democrats!

And Republicans like that they can't get to the polls.

And ACORN!

[Rhiannon12866]

3. I think election day should be a national holiday

That won't help everybody, but could make a big difference.

[frazzled]

4. You can always bring your children to the polls

There's never a problem with that, in any state, I believe.

[drm604]

5. But it can be difficult to find time to do that

between meals and soccer games and lots of other things. Plus it can be difficult to have them stand in line for hours. Why not make voting as family friendly as possible? Early voting means that if you do have to take the kids, at least the lines won't be as long.

[customerserviceguy]

6. Letting people vote over the Internet, if they want to

would be a change I'd welcome. I trust it when I pay my bills every month, why shouldn't I trust it every couple of years for an election?

[drm604]

8. Seriously?

No way should we ever allow this. You trust paying your bills because it's not an anonymous process.

If money is missing from your checking account, you'll know it.

If the bill doesn't get paid, you'll know it.

If your vote is changed, or not counted at all, how would you know it?

[customerserviceguy]

10. I could ask the same question

of any voting method, including a machine. At some point, we're going to go to this method of casting a vote, Luddites or not.

[SoapBox]

7. And then there is Oregon...

They only have Vote by Mail...no polling places.

Their system is also very cool in that you can mail in your ballot OR drop it off at a lot of different locations...just shove it in the slot!

I've done Vote by Mail here in California for years.

[HeiressofBickworth]

12. Washington is also Vote by Mail

or drop-off boxes at various locations. Registered voters (registered on-line and otherwise) get ballots in the mail about three weeks before election day. Also by mail is a voter pamphlet with all the issues and candidates, statements for and against, etc. I dropped my ballot in a drop-off box several days before it was due. Easy way to vote -- can't figure why other states don't adopt this method.

[MineralMan]

9. Most places offer absentee voting for those who cannot

get to the polling place. That's a good thing, but it's a multi-step process in most cases, and people don't know the procedure. It's easy enough to find out how to vote absentee on the Internet, but that takes time, too.

Oregon has made it very simple and mails every registered voter a ballot, which can be filled out and dropped in the mail or dropped at convenient locations anytime. Other states offer early voting, although some make that difficult, too and don't offer convenient times or nearby voting locations.

Some believe that making election day a holiday would help, and it might, but lots and lots of working people have to work on holidays, too. These days every retail store, restaurant, and other businesses are open on holidays. Those workers would not benefit.

Truly, anyone who wants to vote can vote, as long as their state isn't trying to disenfranchise them, but it's often inconvenient enough that many don't bother. Oregon's example is the best one I know, and that state's turnout is about the best anywhere.

[JI7]

11. these are all part of GOTV , legally republicans would never support laws

which would result in more people voting.