There's a lot of talk about making Election Day a federal holiday. Let's get this straight I am all for more people voting. But this is not a good idea.
It only benefits a small section of the population: anyone who has off on federal holidays. This will never include people who work in the service industries. Like other federal holidays, it will just become a sale day like President's day and Martin Luther King Jr Day.
And what about primaries? Every damn state has different primary days. So I guess those elections don't count. Why would they anyway? It's the only way for incumbents to stay in the race.
You want to make elections more accessible to those who want and legally can vote?
More machines. There is NO REASON why people should have to wait one, two, three hours to vote. Precincts need more voting machines. My precinct has 4 and they are crammed into a tiny church basement at some tiny church town. Luckily I went down right after the polls opened but it was already getting busy with the before work crowd. There needs to be poll workers to accommodate more voting machines.
If absentee balloting is available, use resources to actually tell voters. Many people don't even know they have options.
And of course, there is always extending the voting hours, especially in larger populated areas. Voting should only take a few minutes but every election we see stories about people waiting hours to vote. Making it a federal holiday won't accomplish anything.
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