That’s here in my state (NC), and there are many rumors that both state parties have been tolerating if not tacitly encouraging absentee ballot fraud by their candidates. The specific case of the NC-9 race which is still not settled, involves a shady fixer who has been working for candidates with the same M.O. for a decade perhaps. He has even been reported to the boards of elections, but still got away with it one election after another.
This may be influencing my ability to trust apathetic voters with mail-in ballots. People have been willing to trade important passwords for chocolate, why would they treat ballots better?
North Carolina, and realistically, it could have been taken care of by now if the Republicans keeping a stranglehold on the state would actually let the investigation proceed. It was caught fairly easily.
For federal government employees, it is, but only about 20% of private companies observe it. I never worked for a company that counted it as a work holiday.
I saw these tweets, but until a couple minutes ago I hadn’t actually seen these other key MMc statements.
The Republican leader on Wednesday said the legislation, known as H.R., was a ''power grab" by Democrats.
In remarks on the Senate floor, McConnell said, “Just what America needs, another paid holiday and a bunch of government workers being paid to go out and work for I assume our folks - our colleagues on the other side, on their campaigns.”
He added, “This is the Democrat plan to restore democracy? A brand-new week of paid vacation for every federal employee who would like to hover around while you cast your ballot?”
McConnell said the bill would “victimize every American taxpayer by pouring their money into expensive new subsidies that don’t even pass the laugh test.”
I don’t get why the opposing senators/representatives don’t slam him and the GOP for the undemocratic statements. It shouldn’t be hard to point out the hypocrisy of an elected politician in a democracy who doesn’t want people to vote.
Or do they, and just get ignored by the media? Have to admit, I wouldn’t be surprised if that was the case either.
Exactly. Every Democrat, and especially ones looking to run for President in 2020, should be out in the media today slamming these statements as ridiculous and anti-American. McConnell essentially admits that most Federal workers would volunteer and vote Democrat if given the day off to do so, then he somehow turns one Federal holiday day into a “brand-new week of paid vacation” and finishes it off by claiming taxpayers would be subsidizing this phantom “vacation”. Election Day is on a Tuesday in November jackass, nobody is going to plan a vacation around a Tuesday off a couple of weeks before the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays, especially not when they’re getting that day off to VOTE.
Republicans aren’t even trying to hide the fact that they’re a desperate minority party at this point. They’re actively defending voter suppression and gerrymandering, and trying to pass it all off as if they’re doing middle-class taxpaying America a favor. Every Democrat should be shouting this from the rooftops on every media outlet available to them.
The irony is, many states already have this in their laws. Even in McConnell’s Kentucky, employers are required to give at least 4 (unpaid, employer-selectable) hours off for employees to get an absentee ballot to vote.
As provided in Section 148 of the Constitution of Kentucky, any person entitled to a
vote at any election in this state shall, if he has made application for leave prior to
the day he appears before the county clerk to request an application for or to execute
an absentee ballot, be entitled to absent himself from any services or employment in
which he is then engaged or employed for a reasonable time, but not less than four
(4) hours on the day he appears before the clerk to request an application for or to
execute an absentee ballot, during normal business hours of the office of the clerk
or to cast his ballot on the day of the election between the time of opening and
closing the polls. The employer may specify the hours during which an employee
may absent himself.
And then for voting in person:
No person shall be penalized for taking a reasonable time off to vote, unless, under
circumstances which did not prohibit him from voting, he fails to vote. Any
qualified voter who exercises his right to voting leave under this section but fails to
cast his vote, under circumstances which did not prohibit him from voting, may be
subject to disciplinary action.
Making it a holiday isn’t too much further of a stretch.
Yes, though the problem with those laws is that the voter has to forego pay to vote. If they can vote on a scheduled day off (through early voting or a paid holiday for Election Day), then they don’t lose pay. Otherwise they lose pay. So either we need a federal mandate on early voting which requires enough days and polling stations so that no one has to forego pay, or we need a paid holiday on Election Day.
And that penalty only applies to wage laborers. Management, professionals, owners — none of them have to forego pay to vote.
Exactly. It needs to be mandated as in private companies need to give time off for voting or go to the mail in ballots which solves that problem entirely.
Maybe we can call it Motherfucking Donald Trump Day so everyone in the GOP will see it as an opportunity to slurp on the Orange One’s royalness. It occurs every two years on election day to celebrate his great victory in 2016. No one thought he could win in Michigan, nobody.
