• Marcy_Stella@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    A major problem with voting in this country is that it’s not a national holiday, If your working minimum wage you likely can’t afford to take the time away from work which means politicians that campaign on a higher wage lose preventing a wage rise creating a loop. The people that are best suited to vote are those that are well off and retired and statistically they lean republican because of people not wanting to help others disadvantaged while seemingly forgetting that they used those programs to get there. People working at minimum wage or even generally low wages and paycheck to paycheck just can’t afford the time to vote and their best chances are mail in voting which republicans know, that’s why they’re pushing so hard against them to make it as inconvenient as possible, because if its easier to vote in person and the people you don’t want voting cant vote in person then you just eliminated them from the voting pool by circumstance.

    There is also a lack of push for midterms and local elections, the presidential race is very big and public and made a whole spectacle, like you can still remember the 2016 and 2020 elections but be honest with me, what can you remember about the campaigns of the 2018 midterms. The 2022 midterms were basically an exception to the rule because the abortion ruling happened so close and it created such visible lines in the sand but I truly think if the abortion ruling happened in February 2021 not long after Biden got into office the turnout for 2022 midterms wouldn’t have had as big of a turnout because it wouldn’t have been in the public mind quite as much, the debate on abortions is still big but its mostly shifted to individual states rather than country wide at this point.

    • GlendatheGayWitch@lib.lgbt
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      1 year ago

      I do remember 2018 because it was a huge race in TX with Beto going against Cruz.

      I understand that it can be inconvenient, but most people aren’t at work from 7 AM-7 PM when the polls are open for an entire week. Some are even open an hour or two later (law allows polls between 6 AM and 10 PM and we should be pushing for those late times). People just don’t wake up early or leave for the pills before or after work. I’ve lived in all the major cities in TX besides San Antonio and have never waited more than 15 minutes to vote. There’s a lie going around that it takes forever, when that’s only true on the very last day that you can cast a vote. I’ve seen posts on social media from poll workers saying that there were no lines during early voting at all.

      I can understand not making it the first week of voting when they are only open from 8-5, but with some effort, most people should be able to make it when polls are open 7-7.

      Should we have mail in voting? Yes. Should we have polls open until 10 PM on weekdays and polls open on the weekend (as already allowed by law)? Yes

      We just aren’t going to have some other those things until people use the system that’s already in place and vote.