Quick take: The deal Democrats should offer Republicans on "voting rights" (if they had leverage)

 Let's make this simple.  I have generally been skeptical that the following proposal would matter in any dramatic way.  I never opposed it.  I simply never cared.  At the moment, though, it would make an interesting move.  So, Democrats.  If you had any leverage (you don't, but if you did), here is the deal you should offer on voting.  Make election day a national holiday.  Republicans want to limit early voting, get rid of drop boxes, limit access to absentee ballots, and all that?  OK.  Fine.  You can have all of that, if election day is a national holiday.  Those policies matter primarily to the extent that they allow people to vote without worrying about their work schedules.  Yeah, you can go before work, after work, or something like that, but for people with kids, that's harder, and yes, your employer is legally required to let you off work to go vote anyway, but there are complications for low-wage, hourly workers, and yadda-yadda-yadda.

Make election day a national holiday.  Cut through everything.

Of course, the Democrats have no leverage here, so what they need to do is prepare and organize instead of shitting their pants and trying to figure out a mathematical trick that makes 49=50 so that 50=50+Harris because 49 ain't gonna equal 50.  But I've been through that before.

Still, I hate to say it because I'm going to lose my credentials as an anti-goo-goo, but I find myself supporting the national holiday proposal.  It'd cut through all the shit.  The GOP could have all the stupid, petty, little stuff they want, and it wouldn't fucking matter at all.  It would go from mattering just a bit, to mattering not at fucking all.

But the Democrats have no leverage, so never mind.  Too bad they're just shitting their pants instead of planning.  Say hello to Speaker Marjorie Taylor Greene!  Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a space laser to prepare...

Comments

  1. National holiday is weak sauce, though. The GOP should actually love that deal, because many people that vote Democratic would STILL be working on that day, just for 1.5x or 2x pay. Service workers work on holidays, because when the salaried people are off work, they spend money.

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    1. The math won't work that way. Service workers with shifts of that kind too frequently don't even get 8 hour shifts, which is a problem of its own. But, that also means on a holiday, very few are going to have an 8 hour shift. That's just not how shifts work. Because of shift structures, most service workers wouldn't have hours at all, and most with hours wouldn't have a full 8.

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    2. Now, I think an important step that could be taken to protect such a holiday from itself, as it were, would be to have it on a Wednesday. If it's a 3-day or even a potential 4-day weekend, it just becomes a holiday. But, a Wednesday? Folks might be more likely to actually keep that day somewhat more free and somewhat closer to home?

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    3. I am skeptical that Wednesday would be significantly different from Tuesday. Whether or not a Monday would be just another mattress sale? Well, in many parts of the country, it is a little unseasonable for a barbecue, but let's just say the advertising for any such events would be drowned out, and probably prohibitively costly.

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