During a discussion on last Friday’s Real Time w/ Bill Maher on HBO, the topic of electoral reform came up. There were the usual discussions of electoral college concerns, primaries vs. caucuses, and then Ashton Kutcher broke in with a point that may well signal he’s a reader of The BRAD BLOG, as I believe we were the first (only?) to call for Wednesday as a national election/voting holiday, for the precise reasons that Kutcher points out in the following video clip (appx 1 minute)…
Hey, Ashton! Drop us a line! Given the above, as well as other comments you made on last Friday’s show (one of them we posted earlier here), we’d be delighted to make you our first official BRAD BLOG Celebrity Ambassador At-Large! No, seriously. We could use one.
For the record, we most recently wrote about Wednesday as a national election holiday in our piece last week warning about the dangers of the increasing move towards the bad idea of “Vote-by-Mail” elections. Quoth yours truly at the time:
BTW, while we fully support making Wednesday an official national Election holiday, for the reasons Kutcher describes (and a few more), such a move would likely require a Constitutional amendment, unfortunately. But we could use one anyway for that electoral reform and a number of others (e.g., Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr.’s amendment to ensure a Constitutional “right to vote,” as well as making it a felony offense to deny even one voter that right, as originally advocated by the legendary Leon County, FL, Supervisor of Elections, Ion Sancho.)
Kutcher’s quick comments on this topic are transcribed in full below…
MAHER: Hump Day!
KUTCHER: …or whatever, we invented a holiday for him…
MAHER: It’s Hump Day already!
KUTCHER: Make it Hump Day, make it Election Wednesday, so people don’t take the vacations and they aren’t out of their election places on the day that we do the free election vote. [applause]
That’s great! Go Ashton and the Brad Blog!
Election day USED to be a holiday, back in the day.
Be advised that as of this comment the Mobile Edition version of Bradblog has usurped the standard front page of the blog.
While it makes for refreshingly quick page loads for me your visually enhanced readers might feel that something is amiss 😉
Electoral Earth Defense Force Unit Mobile Blog Brad… Hasshin!
Making it a holiday would mean that more people could volunteer as poll workers, poll challengers and poll watchers, as well as volunteer for campaigns. My husband and I had the task of rounding up volunteers for poll watching and challenging for 17 key precincts, and while we did manage to find enough it would have been a lot easier if people had the day off.
Zapkitty –
Just a hiccup. Try not to notice that 🙂
The population has grown too big to be properly served on “The first Tuesday after the first Monday in November.” Early voting helps, but I am a firm believer in “Election Week.” – this would be a nine-day period, starting the first Sunday in November, and ending the next Sunday. Employers would be required to give workers one day off with pay to vote during that week, and employees would be required to bring proof of having voted or lose one day’s pay. Any one who didn’t bear an “I voted” sticker would properly be subjected to ridicule. (Well, it’s an idea.)
“The population has grown too big…”
Wrong. The size of the population is irrelevant; just keep an appropriate precinct size for HCPB, etc. If you don’t use the machines, it will still be cheaper, even without precinct consolidation, and will foster more citizen involvement. And you won’t need more than one or two days.
Move Labor Day back to May 1 where it belongs, make the first Monday in September the national Election Day holiday, and make Inauguration Day sometime around November 1.
We need good weather !! !!
Who cares about Ashton Kutcher? He’s a kid with no talent who met a horny, desparate older woman. He was emotionally out of control at times, on the Maher show. Let’s not give this guy any more credibility than he deserves. He neds to ripen and be educated.
Thanks for your thoughts, Chandidevi. I think he’s doing just fine, and was clearly the smartest person on Friday’s panel.
Hmmm…. it might not need a constitutional amendment. Seems to me that the dates for voting are set state by state. Is the formula first tuesday after the first monday set in federal law somewhere?
So, if it is a matter of states changing their dates, this idea could be incrementally rolled out. Actually, I think 37 states now have early voting (not that I am a big fan — makes me nervous). So ….that leaves 13 states that are not going that route and that might form the basis for a new election day set of practices.
To increase voter turnout and make every vote in every state politically relevant and equal in presidential elections, support the National Popular Vote bill.
The National Popular Vote bill would guarantee the Presidency to the candidate who receives the most popular votes in all 50 states (and DC). The bill would take effect only when enacted by states possessing a majority of the electoral votes (270 of 538). When the bill comes into effect, all the electoral votes from those states would be awarded to the presidential candidate who receives the most popular votes in all 50 states (and DC).
The bill is currently endorsed by 1,181 state legislators — 439 sponsors (in 47 states) and an additional 742 legislators who have cast recorded votes in favor of the bill.
The National Popular Vote bill has been approved by 21 legislative chambers (one house in CO, AR, ME, NC, and WA, and two houses in MD, IL, HI, CA, MA, NJ, RI, and VT). It has been enacted into law in Hawaii, Illinois, New Jersey, and Maryland. These states have 50 (19%) of the 270 electoral votes needed to bring this legislation into effect.
see http://www.NationalPopularVote.com
the popular vote as opossed to the elctoral college is a terrible idea…..neocons r pushing it because they know the bigger the group being counted the easier it is for them to steal it with machines
Hi, Ashton.
Whereas Brad Blog may have been the first to say Wednesday should be the national holiday (and I don’t know when you first suggested this), Why Tuesday? was founded in 2005 to change the insane idea of Tuesday elections, and also advocates for Election Day to be a national holiday (and more). They are essentially for making voting easily accessible for all, almost by ANY means – because there are MANY workable alternatives.
We certainly need to change the way it is currently set up nonetheless, no doubt about it!
Yay! I agree completely. While we’re at it, can we standardize voting across the nation, leaving Diebold out of it completely? 😉