Full Voter Participation Project

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Full Voter Participation Project

California's 26th congressional district, CA > Voting, Elections & Civic Engagement

Daniel Goldberg

Proposed Jan. 27, 2018

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The policy is created to increase voter turnout. Currently you can vote by mail, early vote, or cast a ballot on election day. With so many options we still have low voter participation. Why is that? Its simple, because the elections are on Tuesdays. Vote by mail voters make up a large percentage of the ballots cast. But they don't make a large percentage of eligible voters. Getting to the box is tough on a Tuesday for the average voter. We must find a way to motivate the eligible voters. The solutions is to move elections to the weekend. In this system, local elections would be held on Saturday and Sunday with polls open 8am - 8pm. By moving the election to the weekend, individual and family voters will be more relaxed and determined to head to the polls as groups. Voting will become easier for the average eligible voter. Voting at a booth will be the only way to vote, there will no longer be vote by mail. By removing the mail option, voters will be forced to head to the polling location. This will draw attention to the act of voting and inspire those around to join in their civic duty. Voter turnout volume should increase drastically after the first election cycle. Please note, this is a radical idea which would increase voter turnout dramatically and therefore will never be enacted as it would shake the status quo to the core. Possible results could be increased number of political parties and groups voting to divest from the State they reside in.

Amendments

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Amend & Discuss

Don Dwiggins (04/13/2018)
Provision should be made for mobility-impaired voters. This could include an exception to the no-vote-by-mail rule where necessary (not just convenient), and/or assistance to get the voters to the polling places.

Marc Battistello (03/07/2018)
Voting in person would reduce voter fraud but also make it inconvenient for people like myself who votes by mail.Opening more locations would make the lines managable and voting on Saturday would allow more people to vote without a work obligation.

Benjamin Hoyt (03/03/2018)
Doing away with vote by mail is a BAD idea. It will significantly increase lines, requiring more workers. It will make voting less accessible to the mobility-impaired, as well. The goal of making it more "visible," doesn't justify these costs, IMHO.