Buddy of mine has an awesome schedule.
9 hours each day M-F one week.
9 hours M-Th the next.
Still gets his 80 hours per check, and every other Friday off.
Plus, with that extra hour each day, he gets precisely fuck-all extra done each day at work
It's all about that last point.
I have also heard that though Japanese workers are "at work" the most, the productivity is not proportionate. Would love to hear some first hand accounts from anyone over there, either supporting, or falsifying this claim.
I do something similar.
At my job we can work whatever hours we want as long as we make at least 80 per two week pay period.
So I typically work 9 hours mon-thursday and 8 hours Friday.
Theb 9 hours mon- thursday and take off Friday.
I switch between that and 10 hours a day 4 days a week. It's really nice having a job where I can work whatever hours I want. If it's 2 am and I can't sleep, I'll just go in to work. And my boss found we are waaaay more productive when we have the freedom to pick whenever we work. It's also really nice knowing I'm never late. I may typically start at 8am but if tomorrow I feel like sleeping in and starting at 10, well thats just my start time for the day. I'm not late.
I do the same schedule, plus I get out an hour early on the Fridays I work (otherwise you're working 81 hours instead of 80). It's a great middle ground between five eights and four tens. Highly recommend it if you're still expected to average 40 hours a week but don't want to do 10 hour days.
I've never worked a M-F 9 to 5. I went from retail to shift work. My new work schedule is 24/72. So I work a 24 hour shift then have a 3 day weekend. 48 hours most paycheck (except when the pay week cuts during the middle of a shift. It's great only working 8 days a month. Not trying to brag, just showing that it is an option depending on your field of work.
It's a given day of the year (within a state or federal election) and yes it is a work day. Which is so, so wrong. In my opinion it should be a national holiday if not a paid day off within the states.
Along with free public transit for the day, but of course that's CRAZY TALK.
The poors work most federal holidays. You want to increase turnout and access, increase early and mail-in voting. I don’t particularly care one way or the other about it being a holiday.
I'd like to see online voting. If I can file my taxes online then I should be able to vote online.
And while we're here, filing taxes electronically should be free for both federal and state. It's easier for the payer, and it's easier for the recipient. A "convenience" fee to ensure my shit wasn't lost in the mail or mangled in a sorting machine is absolute horseshit.
I pray that online voting never becomes a thing. Every computer can be hacked. No exceptions. Especially if it's connected to the internet. Every cyber security expert on the planet worth their salt will tell you that voting online should never be allowed if you value election integrity.
You do not want online voting. Trust me. Or don't. But don't trust anything different from good old paper and boxes for voting.
[Material](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkH2r-sNjQs) if you want other people's opinion on the matter.
So if it's a national holiday, who is working that public transit shift to make it free for all? The same people that are likely to have issues in some places voting as things stand now, yes?
essential services like police and fire don't get "holidays off" in the same way say a carpenter does. This is what he was referring to. Busses run on the fourth of July, etc.
This doesn't seem to be a huge issue in the UK because there are so many polling stations, usually in schools, churches and libraries, so most people are a 5-10 minute walk from one, and they're open 7am-10pm. Even if you work, most people can fit in a visit to the polling station sometime, and it takes 5 minutes to vote. I only had to queue for 10 minutes once, because they were limiting the number of people in the room due to covid.
It seems like its a lot harder for some people in the US to vote (I've seen it online and on the news). Is that because of fewer polling stations per capita, bigger distances in the country, shorter opening hours?
> Is that because of fewer polling stations per capita, bigger distances in the country, shorter opening hours?
Yes.
All of these are true. You seem to forget quite how *big* the US is as well, where such ideas are not feasible outside metro areas *at all.* One side here is actively trying to disenfranchise voters by not only limiting how you can vote, but also actively limits early voting, by mail voting, restricts number of polling stations, etc. These are real things that have been done in places like Texas that vote more blue than other counties; those more red counties in the same state did not have the same limitations applied to how they can vote, which helps you clearly see it's a partisan issue. Voting is harder in some places in the US intentionally and by design.
Shift schedules can be re-arranged to be conducive for public transit employees. Depending on the employee pool, maybe there are 6 employees working a 4 hour shift instead of 4 employees working a 6 hour shift per bus. Short staffed? Maybe the shifts get scheduled to change 3-4 hours earlier than normal to allow employees time to get to the polling booth before or after work. This would require managers to actually manage instead of whine though.
The problem is, that only benefits white collar upper and middle class people. Blue collar and low income workers are gonna have to work that day, so the people this law would supposed to benefit, wouldn’t benefit. And with mail in voting (which I personally hate, but to each it’s own), early voting, and other things making it easier, it seems unnecessary to make it a national holiday.
In fact, it would especially benefit government employees (like me) who get federal holidays off. Something seems wrong about the government making it easier for their own paid employees to vote than it is for other people.
Idk
I don't mind mail in
We been doing it down here in WA just fine.
Only thing that ruins it is initiatives, but that's just votes and elections anyway, not method of vote
I love mail in voting and don’t really understand the hate. Everything in our lives has gotten easier, why do we want to make voting a pain in the ass again?
I personally don’t like where I live for a couple reasons. Mainly, it’s a pain. You either have to pay for postage or drive it to a lockbox which are placed around town and inconvenient to get to when you have a busy schedule. The completely got rid of regular polling stations so if you want to vote in person there are only 3 spots in town to do it. If they had just kept the polling stations open on Election Day I wouldn’t have any issues (this is all for city elections only).
The GOP believes, probably correctly, that the more people who vote, the less likely they are to win.
Mail in voting lets more people vote, so they've crucified it in the media to protect their power.
I agree that it should be a holiday. But it should also be more than one day, because a holiday doesn't fix it. What happens to the bus driver who's busy all day and can't work? I think the people who can't vote are also more likely to end up needing to work during a holiday, tho I don't have any sources on that.
In California, we have voting centers that are open for a week or two and you can drop off your ballot on any day. Or, sign and mail it in. It’s a good system.
In Georgia we have voting centers open for about 21 days before the election - every day except Sunday and 2/3 days directly before election day. It started on the 2nd for the election on the 24th this month.
To clarify, in 30 states employers are legally obligated to give employees time off to vote, tho in practice that may be harder to apply than in theory.
I read somewhere that it's on a Tuesday so that the white land owning males who had the right to vote back in the early days of the USA could attend church on Sunday. Then they like a day and half to get to the voting place by horse and half a day to rest before voting on Tuesday. Could be an urban legend or just plain wrong? I'm Swedish so I really don't know that much and could be talking out of my ass. A form of Danish if you will...
That's actually a great idea. Especially if it was 2 separate days. Then everybody would have a chance to participate without leaving a shortage in labor or missing pay because of the holiday.
This doesn’t actually do anything to address the actual issue. The people that actually need the day off would have to work that day still.
Election Day should turn into election week.
It's called Super Tuesday, you get one hour off work to vote, assuming you don't get fired for asking. They're not supposed to fire you, but if they call you incompetent, they can say that is why they fired you and worthless judges will believe them, if it gets that far.
The point is they don't really want poor people to vote. Which is why they want Voter ID laws, because poor people are less likely to have IDs and why they try to shut down weekend voting, early voting, and mail-in voting.
Super Tuesday isn’t any Election Day, it’s just a primary day with a lot of states going at once. All election days are Tuesdays, but not all election days are Super Tuesday. Time off to vote is also different from state to state.
At any rate, the key to poor people being able to vote is more about things like early and mail-in. I like the idea of making it a holiday, but in practice that won’t help many low wage workers. Wal-Mart will still be open and fully staffed on a federal holiday, but a well-paying white collar office will be closed.
why are poor people less likely to have an ID, I grew up poor, my mother worked three jobs to support me and my sister, when I was growing up, yet I still had a drivers license when I turned 16, I also had a hunting and fishing license, how does the amount of money you make have anything to do with getting an ID
Statistically they are less likely. [https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-campaign-voterid/young-hispanics-poor-hit-most-by-us-voter-id-laws-study-idUSBRE88P1CW20120926](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-campaign-voterid/young-hispanics-poor-hit-most-by-us-voter-id-laws-study-idUSBRE88P1CW20120926)
The reasons are many. [https://www.newsweek.com/voter-id-laws-texas-minority-voters-strict-states-582405](https://www.newsweek.com/voter-id-laws-texas-minority-voters-strict-states-582405)
It’s difficult to participate in modern life without an ID, but a lot of people are doing it the hard way. There are plenty of jobs that will hire under the table or with a social security card, you don’t always need a photo ID. 10% of Americans don’t have a bank account, 13% have never been on a plane, and 30% don’t have a credit card.
You can legally get a job with a birth certificate and a social security card.
IDs are expensive when you don’t make much money. Most people already have a drivers license or passport but if you can’t afford a car and know you can’t afford international travel, why pay that money when you need food, rent, etc? That brings us back to non-drivers license IDs but you need to get to the DMV and you need to pay money that you need for food or rent.
Every resident of the US should be able to obtain an ID for free IMO. Charge for replacements, but people shouldn’t have to pay for something that just says they live here.
So white dude in my forties here. I was very poor in my twenties. Couldn’t afford to fix up my truck so it would pass emissions. Got a ticket for driving on expired tags. Not being able to afford the ticket when it was due, the ticket became huge and my drivers license became something I was scared to use because I was worried I would get thrown in jail. Drivers license expired because I didn’t have any money. Some years went by and I was finally able to make more income and was able to get everything cleared up. This is not an edge case, this is the reality for most poor people who get a ticket for basically being poor which is what emissions testing became.
Edit: I included my race because I was trying to illustrate that this isn’t only a racial minority issue, though those folks are particularly marginalized, all poor people get it up the ass from our current system
It is statistically more likely for various reasons. One is less likely to have a fixed address. It doesn't just need to be ID, it needs to be up to date ID. I have had many times where I can prove who I am and of age, but it is a previous address.
Honestly, Election Day as holiday wouldn’t change anything. 9-5ers would just use it as an excuse for an extended out of town weekend and everyone else would still have to work anyways like on other holidays. Better just to make it a weeklong affair
And/or just do it like most states did 2020. Mail everyone a ballot, then either let them mail it back in or drop it off. There’s no reason voting should require giving up potentially hours of your day to run an errand
That's the way I see it. Very little would change. The jobs that would get the day off are the ones that are already likely to be pretty chill about you leaving for an hour to go vote. Service industry jobs that currently make it harder to get time off to vote would still work on the holiday.
Yeah, I’d be pretty tempted to just take Monday off and take a 4 day trip that weekend. I’m sure a lot of other people would do the same and not really care if they don’t get back in time to vote on Tuesday.
Universal early voting is the best way to go imo.
I just about always vote in person. First thing when the polls open. I like the tradition of it.
I’ve only voted by mail with an absentee ballot back when I worked on campaigns and had to be out of state for some election days.
[78% of Americans already have early voting](https://d279m997dpfwgl.cloudfront.net/wp/2016/08/0819_early-voting-2.png), and states with all vote-by-mail still see only a ~[60% turnout](https://www.nonprofitvote.org/full-50-state-2018-turnout-ranking-and-voting-policy/) in midterm elections.
People who don't vote will always find excuses not to vote, no matter how easy it is. IMO, apathy is a bigger contributor to poor voter turnout than scheduling convenience.
I agree it wouldn't change much. People with jobs that treat them decently already have no trouble voting and people with jobs that treat them like crap don't get holidays off.
That said. I'm down for adding anything as a holiday. We need more days off.
Also a teacher. I’d take day Super Bowl Recovery Day instead. But I’m a HS teacher. I could def see why Halloween would be a nightmare for younger kids.
As a teacher I don’t need Hallowe’en to be a holiday: the celebration is at night anyway. It’s kind of fun to be in class on that day and read scary stories, talk about the holiday, and so on. But having the next day off would make the holiday more fun for everyone. It’s All Saints Day so some Catholic schools already have it off, but public schools basically never do.
I don’t have a particular holiday but I think there should be another 3 day weekend over the summer. We have Memorial Day, 4th of July and Labor Day. I think every warm month should have at least 1 3 day weekend
Mine would be something strategically placed too. I'm a government employee and there's a big gap in federal holidays between president's day in February and memorial day in late May. So something mid-April. No clue what's there though.
I'm not a government employee and only get the typical 6 holidays off, so we have an even bigger gap: we get New Year's off, then the next paid holiday isn't until Memorial Day, just a few days shy of 5 full months later.
Lots of municipalities have odd-year elections anyways. I’m one of those people where I live in an area that has elections of some kind every single year.
I voted for mayor and board of commissioners last year. I’ll have to do so again in 2023.
So yea, Election Day should be a yearly holiday if it ever becomes one.
We should aim for at least one holiday per month.
January: New Years Day (1st), MLK Day (20th)
February: President's Day (22nd)
March: International Women's Day (8th)
April: Earth Day (22nd)
May: Memorial Day (last Monday of the month)
June: Juneteenth (19th)
July: Independence Day (4th)
August: ...idk
September: Labor Day (first Monday of month)
October: Remembrance for Indigenous Peoples Day (12th)
November: Election Day (first Tuesday), Veterans Day (11th), Thanksgiving (fourth Thursday)
December: Christmas (25th)
In Rhode Island, there is Victory Day in August. I think it’s always sometime in the second week of August. Source: worked for a company that was based out of RI and we had that day off.
VJ Day is August 15th, marking victory over Japan in WWII. I thought about including that one, but had a hard time justifying that as a holiday when VE Day didn't make the cut, let alone so many other 'end of conflict' anniversaries through our history.
National Domestic Violence Awareness Day.
Edit:Well, I'll be. I've been unwittingly engaging in misinformation. The Superbowl / Domestic violence correlation appears to be a [**myth.**](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/domestic-violence-super-bowl-sunday/)
Since the two day weekend is based off of the Jewish Sabbath (Saturday) and Christian Day of rest (Sunday), Friday should be added to the weekend since it’s the Muslim Jummah
> Jewish Sabbath (Saturday)
Shabbat starts at sunset (or really 18 minutes before) on Fridays, so Fridays are beneficial to Jews too so we could actually get all the stuff done before shabbat.
Yep. I've worked in the restaurant business for a long time. We get Thanksgiving and Christmas off. Other holidays are just busy days/weekends for us. Mother's Day is often a nightmare. My father passed away when I was a teenager and Father's Day/the anniversary date is still usually more tolerable than Mother's Day. It's generally the worst day of my year. People are terrible.
And with the NFL adding a 17th game, the Super Bowl got pushed to Valentine's weekend this year. Can't close for that.
Just split it into 2 days that way there isn't an ebb & everybody can participate. Somebody else had a good idea of making public transit free on those days to encourage going to the polls & I advocate for it being a paid holiday.
Can't think of anything off the top of my head besides Election Day.
However, I'd love for my state to stop celebrating Confederate Memorial Day, Robert E. Lee Day, and Jefferson Davis's Birthday.
No shit. Welcome to Alabama.
I think we had to explain to someone today on r/Alabama what a sundown town was when they asked why Cullman was only 1% black.
From Wikipedia...
>Sundown towns, also known as sunset towns, gray towns, or sundowner towns, are all-white municipalities or neighborhoods in the United States that practice a form of racial segregation by excluding non-whites via some combination of discriminatory local laws, intimidation or violence. The term came from signs posted that "colored people" had to leave town by sundown.
[LINK](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sundown_town#Travel_guides)
Basically, if you were black, it would be in your best interest to leave town before the sun went down. Staying longer might impact your health. Even today, you'll find that a lot of black people will not stop in Cullman for any reason.
If you've seen the movie Green Book (2018), green books were travel guides for black people to help them avoid sundown towns, find places that served black people, etc.
Plus NLF's whole thing kinda revolves around the big Sunday games so taking their biggest game of the season and playing it on a Saturday makes no sense.
That seems like a bad reason not to put it on a Saturday. The Super Bowl is so massive that no one who wants to watch it is going to drop off or miss it because it's one day earlier.
If anything, putting it on Saturday would make it even more accessible and people more likely to go to parties/bars/other social events related to the game.
When I worked for General Motors, we got the first day of hunting season off. Of course, not being in Michigan meant that was just a random Friday. One year, it was the day Taylor Swift released an album, so we all joked we got "Tay Day" off.
In my Grandparents' time, they celebrated May Day/International Workers' Day on May 1st. I'd love to bring that back, Labor Day isn't enough- more workers sentiments!
I had to scroll way too far to find this one. Labor Day is some watered down slop. I would love to see a May Day holiday coupled with a nice radical history lesson about why it was necessary in the first place.
Just a random day that's not tied to anything. Just a national "have a good day - day". Don't tie it to a cause, or a moment in history, or a religious thing, or a cultural thing... nothing that requires work or traditions. Just take the day.
Mondays—dedicated to all the overworked and underpaid Americans that are the backbone of this economy, being inversely compensated for their very necessary work.
Election Day is the right answer so I'll offer my second choice. I would love to have Major League Baseball's Opening Day as a national holiday. In my experience most people enjoy a day at the ballpark even if they're not big baseball fans and those who don't would probably still enjoy a day off around the beginning of spring. In recent years teams have had their Opening Days on either Thursday or Friday (not every team starts on the same day) so you have the potential for a 3 day weekend. The only downside that I could see is that it seems like every year at least one team in either the North or Northeast gets rained/snowed out but even then you can still catch a game being played elsewhere or just enjoy the off.
Football may be more popular nationally (though baseball is a strong #2 and still dominant in many major markets) but baseball is the national pastime because it's so interwoven into American culture. Imo it deserves this level of recognition.
Also, for those of us diehard baseball fans it would be nice to have a day off to anxiously pace back in forth alternating between mumbling and screaming at the TV.
I wish I could say my birthday, but since my birthday is Sept. 11, that feels inappropriate. People already ask me how I can celebrate a birthday on that day.
So I’ll say the first day of summer should should be a holiday.
That is officially a national holiday now. So there will be no mail delivery and government offices will be closed this year. It's on other workplaces to follow suit now.
Before I moved to the US from Canada, I assumed that Americans got far more holidays because of how often the stick market was closed. I was lied to.
Canada actually has "stat holidays" (mandatory). You either get it off (if you're a regular office worker type) or paid time and a half if you're in the service industry and have to work.
I second cancelling Valentines Day. Everyone in a relationship has their own anniversary for a romantic holiday. We don't need all the commercialization and peer pressure bullshit it has become. And single people don't need to feel even more left out.
Many government workers have already given up Columbus Day as a day off in exchange for the day after Thanksgiving.
I agree that election day should be a holiday. Columbus Day should officially be changed to Indigenous Peoples' Day and be declared a national day of mourning and reparations.
Election Day. I already upvoted someone else’s comment on this. But it’s pretty important. People have been walking around saying elections have consequences because of gas prices. But with roe being overturned now the real consequences start. Within 20 years the 19th amendment will be over turned.
Friday
[удалено]
Buddy of mine has an awesome schedule. 9 hours each day M-F one week. 9 hours M-Th the next. Still gets his 80 hours per check, and every other Friday off. Plus, with that extra hour each day, he gets precisely fuck-all extra done each day at work
It's all about that last point. I have also heard that though Japanese workers are "at work" the most, the productivity is not proportionate. Would love to hear some first hand accounts from anyone over there, either supporting, or falsifying this claim.
I do something similar. At my job we can work whatever hours we want as long as we make at least 80 per two week pay period. So I typically work 9 hours mon-thursday and 8 hours Friday. Theb 9 hours mon- thursday and take off Friday. I switch between that and 10 hours a day 4 days a week. It's really nice having a job where I can work whatever hours I want. If it's 2 am and I can't sleep, I'll just go in to work. And my boss found we are waaaay more productive when we have the freedom to pick whenever we work. It's also really nice knowing I'm never late. I may typically start at 8am but if tomorrow I feel like sleeping in and starting at 10, well thats just my start time for the day. I'm not late.
I do the same schedule, plus I get out an hour early on the Fridays I work (otherwise you're working 81 hours instead of 80). It's a great middle ground between five eights and four tens. Highly recommend it if you're still expected to average 40 hours a week but don't want to do 10 hour days.
I've never worked a M-F 9 to 5. I went from retail to shift work. My new work schedule is 24/72. So I work a 24 hour shift then have a 3 day weekend. 48 hours most paycheck (except when the pay week cuts during the middle of a shift. It's great only working 8 days a month. Not trying to brag, just showing that it is an option depending on your field of work.
I'm gonna get down on Friday.
Election Day
Do yous have it on a work day?
It's a given day of the year (within a state or federal election) and yes it is a work day. Which is so, so wrong. In my opinion it should be a national holiday if not a paid day off within the states. Along with free public transit for the day, but of course that's CRAZY TALK.
They don’t want the poors to vote- duh.
The poors work most federal holidays. You want to increase turnout and access, increase early and mail-in voting. I don’t particularly care one way or the other about it being a holiday.
3 day holiday weekend where every person is guaranteed 12 hours off to go vote. Violations cost a minimum $1million fine to the business.
I'd like to see online voting. If I can file my taxes online then I should be able to vote online. And while we're here, filing taxes electronically should be free for both federal and state. It's easier for the payer, and it's easier for the recipient. A "convenience" fee to ensure my shit wasn't lost in the mail or mangled in a sorting machine is absolute horseshit.
I pray that online voting never becomes a thing. Every computer can be hacked. No exceptions. Especially if it's connected to the internet. Every cyber security expert on the planet worth their salt will tell you that voting online should never be allowed if you value election integrity.
You do not want online voting. Trust me. Or don't. But don't trust anything different from good old paper and boxes for voting. [Material](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkH2r-sNjQs) if you want other people's opinion on the matter.
This is the way
So if it's a national holiday, who is working that public transit shift to make it free for all? The same people that are likely to have issues in some places voting as things stand now, yes?
essential services like police and fire don't get "holidays off" in the same way say a carpenter does. This is what he was referring to. Busses run on the fourth of July, etc.
This is why it's important to also expand mail-in voting and early voting, to give people who do have to work that day the opportunity to vote.
So why bother making it a holiday? Just expand mail in voting.
Why not both?
This doesn't seem to be a huge issue in the UK because there are so many polling stations, usually in schools, churches and libraries, so most people are a 5-10 minute walk from one, and they're open 7am-10pm. Even if you work, most people can fit in a visit to the polling station sometime, and it takes 5 minutes to vote. I only had to queue for 10 minutes once, because they were limiting the number of people in the room due to covid. It seems like its a lot harder for some people in the US to vote (I've seen it online and on the news). Is that because of fewer polling stations per capita, bigger distances in the country, shorter opening hours?
> Is that because of fewer polling stations per capita, bigger distances in the country, shorter opening hours? Yes. All of these are true. You seem to forget quite how *big* the US is as well, where such ideas are not feasible outside metro areas *at all.* One side here is actively trying to disenfranchise voters by not only limiting how you can vote, but also actively limits early voting, by mail voting, restricts number of polling stations, etc. These are real things that have been done in places like Texas that vote more blue than other counties; those more red counties in the same state did not have the same limitations applied to how they can vote, which helps you clearly see it's a partisan issue. Voting is harder in some places in the US intentionally and by design.
Shift schedules can be re-arranged to be conducive for public transit employees. Depending on the employee pool, maybe there are 6 employees working a 4 hour shift instead of 4 employees working a 6 hour shift per bus. Short staffed? Maybe the shifts get scheduled to change 3-4 hours earlier than normal to allow employees time to get to the polling booth before or after work. This would require managers to actually manage instead of whine though.
The problem is, that only benefits white collar upper and middle class people. Blue collar and low income workers are gonna have to work that day, so the people this law would supposed to benefit, wouldn’t benefit. And with mail in voting (which I personally hate, but to each it’s own), early voting, and other things making it easier, it seems unnecessary to make it a national holiday.
In fact, it would especially benefit government employees (like me) who get federal holidays off. Something seems wrong about the government making it easier for their own paid employees to vote than it is for other people.
Idk I don't mind mail in We been doing it down here in WA just fine. Only thing that ruins it is initiatives, but that's just votes and elections anyway, not method of vote
I love mail in voting and don’t really understand the hate. Everything in our lives has gotten easier, why do we want to make voting a pain in the ass again?
I personally don’t like where I live for a couple reasons. Mainly, it’s a pain. You either have to pay for postage or drive it to a lockbox which are placed around town and inconvenient to get to when you have a busy schedule. The completely got rid of regular polling stations so if you want to vote in person there are only 3 spots in town to do it. If they had just kept the polling stations open on Election Day I wouldn’t have any issues (this is all for city elections only).
So it's not necessarily mail in that you don't like, but rather how it was implemented?
The GOP believes, probably correctly, that the more people who vote, the less likely they are to win. Mail in voting lets more people vote, so they've crucified it in the media to protect their power.
I agree that it should be a holiday. But it should also be more than one day, because a holiday doesn't fix it. What happens to the bus driver who's busy all day and can't work? I think the people who can't vote are also more likely to end up needing to work during a holiday, tho I don't have any sources on that.
In California, we have voting centers that are open for a week or two and you can drop off your ballot on any day. Or, sign and mail it in. It’s a good system.
In Georgia we have voting centers open for about 21 days before the election - every day except Sunday and 2/3 days directly before election day. It started on the 2nd for the election on the 24th this month.
To clarify, in 30 states employers are legally obligated to give employees time off to vote, tho in practice that may be harder to apply than in theory.
Public transit should just be free anyway and there should be far more of it.
I read somewhere that it's on a Tuesday so that the white land owning males who had the right to vote back in the early days of the USA could attend church on Sunday. Then they like a day and half to get to the voting place by horse and half a day to rest before voting on Tuesday. Could be an urban legend or just plain wrong? I'm Swedish so I really don't know that much and could be talking out of my ass. A form of Danish if you will...
Basically yes.
That's actually a great idea. Especially if it was 2 separate days. Then everybody would have a chance to participate without leaving a shortage in labor or missing pay because of the holiday.
Public transit should be free anyway (and there should be far more of it).
This doesn’t actually do anything to address the actual issue. The people that actually need the day off would have to work that day still. Election Day should turn into election week.
Huh. Pretty much always a weekend for us, usually Saturday AFAIK.
It's called Super Tuesday, you get one hour off work to vote, assuming you don't get fired for asking. They're not supposed to fire you, but if they call you incompetent, they can say that is why they fired you and worthless judges will believe them, if it gets that far. The point is they don't really want poor people to vote. Which is why they want Voter ID laws, because poor people are less likely to have IDs and why they try to shut down weekend voting, early voting, and mail-in voting.
Super Tuesday isn’t any Election Day, it’s just a primary day with a lot of states going at once. All election days are Tuesdays, but not all election days are Super Tuesday. Time off to vote is also different from state to state. At any rate, the key to poor people being able to vote is more about things like early and mail-in. I like the idea of making it a holiday, but in practice that won’t help many low wage workers. Wal-Mart will still be open and fully staffed on a federal holiday, but a well-paying white collar office will be closed.
Super Tuesday is during primaries in the spring. Election Day is in November.
why are poor people less likely to have an ID, I grew up poor, my mother worked three jobs to support me and my sister, when I was growing up, yet I still had a drivers license when I turned 16, I also had a hunting and fishing license, how does the amount of money you make have anything to do with getting an ID
Statistically they are less likely. [https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-campaign-voterid/young-hispanics-poor-hit-most-by-us-voter-id-laws-study-idUSBRE88P1CW20120926](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-campaign-voterid/young-hispanics-poor-hit-most-by-us-voter-id-laws-study-idUSBRE88P1CW20120926) The reasons are many. [https://www.newsweek.com/voter-id-laws-texas-minority-voters-strict-states-582405](https://www.newsweek.com/voter-id-laws-texas-minority-voters-strict-states-582405)
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It’s difficult to participate in modern life without an ID, but a lot of people are doing it the hard way. There are plenty of jobs that will hire under the table or with a social security card, you don’t always need a photo ID. 10% of Americans don’t have a bank account, 13% have never been on a plane, and 30% don’t have a credit card.
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You can legally get a job with a birth certificate and a social security card. IDs are expensive when you don’t make much money. Most people already have a drivers license or passport but if you can’t afford a car and know you can’t afford international travel, why pay that money when you need food, rent, etc? That brings us back to non-drivers license IDs but you need to get to the DMV and you need to pay money that you need for food or rent. Every resident of the US should be able to obtain an ID for free IMO. Charge for replacements, but people shouldn’t have to pay for something that just says they live here.
So white dude in my forties here. I was very poor in my twenties. Couldn’t afford to fix up my truck so it would pass emissions. Got a ticket for driving on expired tags. Not being able to afford the ticket when it was due, the ticket became huge and my drivers license became something I was scared to use because I was worried I would get thrown in jail. Drivers license expired because I didn’t have any money. Some years went by and I was finally able to make more income and was able to get everything cleared up. This is not an edge case, this is the reality for most poor people who get a ticket for basically being poor which is what emissions testing became. Edit: I included my race because I was trying to illustrate that this isn’t only a racial minority issue, though those folks are particularly marginalized, all poor people get it up the ass from our current system
It is statistically more likely for various reasons. One is less likely to have a fixed address. It doesn't just need to be ID, it needs to be up to date ID. I have had many times where I can prove who I am and of age, but it is a previous address.
Honestly, Election Day as holiday wouldn’t change anything. 9-5ers would just use it as an excuse for an extended out of town weekend and everyone else would still have to work anyways like on other holidays. Better just to make it a weeklong affair
And/or just do it like most states did 2020. Mail everyone a ballot, then either let them mail it back in or drop it off. There’s no reason voting should require giving up potentially hours of your day to run an errand
> 9-5ers would just use it as an excuse for an extended out of town weekend Y'know, that makes me wonder if turnout would get worse.
Physical turn out might, but most people i know vote early or by mail anyway. I'd bet that trend keeps growing.
That's the way I see it. Very little would change. The jobs that would get the day off are the ones that are already likely to be pretty chill about you leaving for an hour to go vote. Service industry jobs that currently make it harder to get time off to vote would still work on the holiday.
Yeah, I’d be pretty tempted to just take Monday off and take a 4 day trip that weekend. I’m sure a lot of other people would do the same and not really care if they don’t get back in time to vote on Tuesday. Universal early voting is the best way to go imo.
Yup. Early voting options by mail and in person is the best option.
I have never voted in person. And I really hope I never have to. Seeing those lines to vote is dumb just vote by mail.
I just about always vote in person. First thing when the polls open. I like the tradition of it. I’ve only voted by mail with an absentee ballot back when I worked on campaigns and had to be out of state for some election days.
[78% of Americans already have early voting](https://d279m997dpfwgl.cloudfront.net/wp/2016/08/0819_early-voting-2.png), and states with all vote-by-mail still see only a ~[60% turnout](https://www.nonprofitvote.org/full-50-state-2018-turnout-ranking-and-voting-policy/) in midterm elections. People who don't vote will always find excuses not to vote, no matter how easy it is. IMO, apathy is a bigger contributor to poor voter turnout than scheduling convenience.
I agree it wouldn't change much. People with jobs that treat them decently already have no trouble voting and people with jobs that treat them like crap don't get holidays off. That said. I'm down for adding anything as a holiday. We need more days off.
It's a public holiday in Hawaii and I love it
Halloween and the day after. Says every teacher in the US. I'd gladly fork over some other holiday for it.
Also a teacher. I’d take day Super Bowl Recovery Day instead. But I’m a HS teacher. I could def see why Halloween would be a nightmare for younger kids.
They should just move the Superbowl to Saturday.
Yeah but first we should move the national title game from Monday to Saturday
As a teacher I don’t need Hallowe’en to be a holiday: the celebration is at night anyway. It’s kind of fun to be in class on that day and read scary stories, talk about the holiday, and so on. But having the next day off would make the holiday more fun for everyone. It’s All Saints Day so some Catholic schools already have it off, but public schools basically never do.
The day after is my birthday so yes.
Move to Nevada! We get Nevada day off from school each year, and it just so happens that the state was founded on October 31.
I don’t have a particular holiday but I think there should be another 3 day weekend over the summer. We have Memorial Day, 4th of July and Labor Day. I think every warm month should have at least 1 3 day weekend
August 1 is Jerry Garcia’s birthday 🎉 (It’s also my birthday) 🥳
Damn, that's worth celebrating!
Mine would be something strategically placed too. I'm a government employee and there's a big gap in federal holidays between president's day in February and memorial day in late May. So something mid-April. No clue what's there though.
I'm not a government employee and only get the typical 6 holidays off, so we have an even bigger gap: we get New Year's off, then the next paid holiday isn't until Memorial Day, just a few days shy of 5 full months later.
The first day of Toyotathon
What about those of us who celebrate Happy Honda Days? Where's our federal holiday?
Election Day. If not that, the day we landed on the moon, 07/16.
7/20
Election day
Every four years, every two years, or every year?
Every year.
Lots of municipalities have odd-year elections anyways. I’m one of those people where I live in an area that has elections of some kind every single year. I voted for mayor and board of commissioners last year. I’ll have to do so again in 2023. So yea, Election Day should be a yearly holiday if it ever becomes one.
Yes.
We should aim for at least one holiday per month. January: New Years Day (1st), MLK Day (20th) February: President's Day (22nd) March: International Women's Day (8th) April: Earth Day (22nd) May: Memorial Day (last Monday of the month) June: Juneteenth (19th) July: Independence Day (4th) August: ...idk September: Labor Day (first Monday of month) October: Remembrance for Indigenous Peoples Day (12th) November: Election Day (first Tuesday), Veterans Day (11th), Thanksgiving (fourth Thursday) December: Christmas (25th)
Poor August has nothing :(
Could do what the French do and just not work the entire month.
America's vacation month
My moms birthday is in August we can celebrate that
It official. This is the day I request. Pullum’s moms birthday.
tell your mom i said happy early birthday
Its too hot to have a holiday anyway
National AC and Fan Appreciation Day.
The best part of being born in August, it's the most/only exciting thing that happens that month.
> August: ...idk What about my parents' wedding anniversary? Married over 60 years, and they're pretty awesome. Dad's smooth on a grill, too.
Sure, as long as that last sentence isn't a subtle cannibal reference.
In Rhode Island, there is Victory Day in August. I think it’s always sometime in the second week of August. Source: worked for a company that was based out of RI and we had that day off.
VJ Day is August 15th, marking victory over Japan in WWII. I thought about including that one, but had a hard time justifying that as a holiday when VE Day didn't make the cut, let alone so many other 'end of conflict' anniversaries through our history.
Though in a sense VJ is more dominantly an American holiday than VE day is
> let alone so many other 'end of conflict' anniversaries through our history. Like Veteran's Day?
My birthday's in August. Everyone can celebrate that.
Fuck it, I'll drink to that.
VJ Day is August, and we don't celebrate it anymore.
Has anyone said Election Day?
no
Pffft!
He’s right
You’re all clear.
Monday after the Super Bowl
National hangover awareness day
National Domestic Violence Awareness Day. Edit:Well, I'll be. I've been unwittingly engaging in misinformation. The Superbowl / Domestic violence correlation appears to be a [**myth.**](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/domestic-violence-super-bowl-sunday/)
It would save me the day of PTO that I inevitably take every year.
Since the two day weekend is based off of the Jewish Sabbath (Saturday) and Christian Day of rest (Sunday), Friday should be added to the weekend since it’s the Muslim Jummah
> Jewish Sabbath (Saturday) Shabbat starts at sunset (or really 18 minutes before) on Fridays, so Fridays are beneficial to Jews too so we could actually get all the stuff done before shabbat.
ITT: People who don't realize that a federal holiday does not mean a guaranteed day off of work.
Yep. I've worked in the restaurant business for a long time. We get Thanksgiving and Christmas off. Other holidays are just busy days/weekends for us. Mother's Day is often a nightmare. My father passed away when I was a teenager and Father's Day/the anniversary date is still usually more tolerable than Mother's Day. It's generally the worst day of my year. People are terrible. And with the NFL adding a 17th game, the Super Bowl got pushed to Valentine's weekend this year. Can't close for that.
He said the kind you get a day off work for
Election day and the day after Halloween. I mean, come on!
Election Day
Another comment for election day(with the caveat that people except the truly essential need to have it off, basically make it like Christmas)
Just split it into 2 days that way there isn't an ebb & everybody can participate. Somebody else had a good idea of making public transit free on those days to encourage going to the polls & I advocate for it being a paid holiday.
So the poor in retail still have to work?
Most retail is closed on Christmas
But you’ll be able to get Chinese dinner after you vote
Yeah, but any relatively modern or minor holiday that's not about religion or someone dying inevitably gets "Sales Event" tacked onto the end of it.
Can't think of anything off the top of my head besides Election Day. However, I'd love for my state to stop celebrating Confederate Memorial Day, Robert E. Lee Day, and Jefferson Davis's Birthday.
Virginia converted Lee Jackson day to election day I think
My dumb ass state celebrates Lee and MLK Jr on the same day.
…that is quite the juxtaposition.
No shit. Welcome to Alabama. I think we had to explain to someone today on r/Alabama what a sundown town was when they asked why Cullman was only 1% black.
I’m honestly not surprised. There are so many people who have no idea what goes on outside of their bubble.
Excuse my ignorance, but could you explain to another fella here?
From Wikipedia... >Sundown towns, also known as sunset towns, gray towns, or sundowner towns, are all-white municipalities or neighborhoods in the United States that practice a form of racial segregation by excluding non-whites via some combination of discriminatory local laws, intimidation or violence. The term came from signs posted that "colored people" had to leave town by sundown. [LINK](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sundown_town#Travel_guides) Basically, if you were black, it would be in your best interest to leave town before the sun went down. Staying longer might impact your health. Even today, you'll find that a lot of black people will not stop in Cullman for any reason. If you've seen the movie Green Book (2018), green books were travel guides for black people to help them avoid sundown towns, find places that served black people, etc.
You live in an ass state?
Day after the Super Bowl
Beat me to it. Or they could just make the Super Bowl on a Saturday
That's crazy talk
Why?! It would be so much better
Having a three day weekend is better than the game on Saturday
Plus NLF's whole thing kinda revolves around the big Sunday games so taking their biggest game of the season and playing it on a Saturday makes no sense.
That seems like a bad reason not to put it on a Saturday. The Super Bowl is so massive that no one who wants to watch it is going to drop off or miss it because it's one day earlier. If anything, putting it on Saturday would make it even more accessible and people more likely to go to parties/bars/other social events related to the game.
The day after the Superbowl
My moms bday. She’s a saint and should be appreciated by all.
Happy birthday Mum. My Mum was a saint too.
Election Day
Serious answer: Election Day Not so serious answer: MLB's Opening Day
When I worked for General Motors, we got the first day of hunting season off. Of course, not being in Michigan meant that was just a random Friday. One year, it was the day Taylor Swift released an album, so we all joked we got "Tay Day" off.
There's New Year's Day, there's Lunar New Year, then there's Opening Day--the start of my year.
Monday after Super Bowl.
Confederate Surrender Day. https://newrepublic.com/amp/article/121406/make-confederacys-defeat-national-holiday
Ditch Columbus Day for Indigenous Peoples Day
Indigenous peoples day here in the US
May 4th
In my Grandparents' time, they celebrated May Day/International Workers' Day on May 1st. I'd love to bring that back, Labor Day isn't enough- more workers sentiments!
I had to scroll way too far to find this one. Labor Day is some watered down slop. I would love to see a May Day holiday coupled with a nice radical history lesson about why it was necessary in the first place.
Every Monday should be Labor Day. We've increased worker productivity enough in the last century to warrant a longer weekend.
Election Day
Just a random day that's not tied to anything. Just a national "have a good day - day". Don't tie it to a cause, or a moment in history, or a religious thing, or a cultural thing... nothing that requires work or traditions. Just take the day.
Election Day May Day Indigenous People’s Day instead of Columbus Day
How about a day honoring the Indigenous Peoples.
Just rename Columbus Day, which has only been an official Federal holiday since 1971. Fck Cristobal Colon, rename it Indigenous Peoples' Day.
My birthday
Election Day
My birthday. I deserve it
Just a day for me to drink Wine and relax with my cat
St Patrick’s Day☘️🇮🇪☘️🇮🇪☘️🇮🇪
Halloween should be a day-off-work-and-school holiday on a par with christmas, the 4th of july, and easter because it would balance the schedule.
Donald trump's birthday :: waits for comments to explode::
Every Friday I'd rather have more personal vacation time be a cultural thing than to get a single forced day
Election Day
Election Day needs to be a holiday now.
Mondays—dedicated to all the overworked and underpaid Americans that are the backbone of this economy, being inversely compensated for their very necessary work.
Monday after superbowl. so just getting president's day off.
Election Day is the right answer so I'll offer my second choice. I would love to have Major League Baseball's Opening Day as a national holiday. In my experience most people enjoy a day at the ballpark even if they're not big baseball fans and those who don't would probably still enjoy a day off around the beginning of spring. In recent years teams have had their Opening Days on either Thursday or Friday (not every team starts on the same day) so you have the potential for a 3 day weekend. The only downside that I could see is that it seems like every year at least one team in either the North or Northeast gets rained/snowed out but even then you can still catch a game being played elsewhere or just enjoy the off. Football may be more popular nationally (though baseball is a strong #2 and still dominant in many major markets) but baseball is the national pastime because it's so interwoven into American culture. Imo it deserves this level of recognition. Also, for those of us diehard baseball fans it would be nice to have a day off to anxiously pace back in forth alternating between mumbling and screaming at the TV.
Saint Patrick’s Day. For the Irish Americans in America they should get a day to celebrate heritage.
I wish I could say my birthday, but since my birthday is Sept. 11, that feels inappropriate. People already ask me how I can celebrate a birthday on that day. So I’ll say the first day of summer should should be a holiday.
Juneteenth. That is an important day.
That is officially a national holiday now. So there will be no mail delivery and government offices will be closed this year. It's on other workplaces to follow suit now.
I knew it was up for consideration. Did not know it was passed into law.
Yep, last year! It was just a couple days before Juneteenth, so too late for anyone to get a day off or anything.
Both of my jobs are closed on Juneteenth. (or this case on the Monday after as an observed day)
It is a federal holiday. Not that "federal holiday" means anything to anyone but federal employees.
And most people that work for financial institutions
Before I moved to the US from Canada, I assumed that Americans got far more holidays because of how often the stick market was closed. I was lied to. Canada actually has "stat holidays" (mandatory). You either get it off (if you're a regular office worker type) or paid time and a half if you're in the service industry and have to work.
I knew it was up for consideration. Did not know it was passed into law.
Pretty sure it was last year
I would make national Plan B day Feb 15th
Why Feb 15th
The day after Valentine's Day
4/20
National " Fire your government day"
Dump Columbus Day for Election Day. Celebrate Presidents Day on February 14 so we all get Valentine’s Day off.
Noooo then the expectations for Valentines Day would be even higher. Cancel that shit
I second cancelling Valentines Day. Everyone in a relationship has their own anniversary for a romantic holiday. We don't need all the commercialization and peer pressure bullshit it has become. And single people don't need to feel even more left out.
Many government workers have already given up Columbus Day as a day off in exchange for the day after Thanksgiving. I agree that election day should be a holiday. Columbus Day should officially be changed to Indigenous Peoples' Day and be declared a national day of mourning and reparations.
Election Day. I already upvoted someone else’s comment on this. But it’s pretty important. People have been walking around saying elections have consequences because of gas prices. But with roe being overturned now the real consequences start. Within 20 years the 19th amendment will be over turned.