The school district where my brother works is closing for Election Day

[Siwsan]

I don't ever remember this happening, before. I checked the calendar for the school by me - it's open.

He said they got a notice saying requests for Monday off would be denied, and about a week later they found out that there will be no school on Tuesday, Nov 6. Apparently they didn't want to have a rash of requests for that Monday, giving people a 4 day weekend.

Anyway, hats off to my Alma Mater.

[genxlib]

1. It's not uncommon

In many jurisdictions, the schools are used for polling places.

Rather than deal with the traffic and security issues of having people in and out of campus all day, they just close the schools.

In my daughter's school district, they just made it coincide with a Teacher's Planning Day

[Siwsan]

5. This is the first time they've closed this district.

And it's a massive school district. I've lost count of how many school building they have, now. 2 high schools, 2 middle schools and several more elementary.

The polling place is in the old high school that's now an activity center.

[genxlib]

7. That's not massive

Our school district has 23 high schools, 34 middle schools and 109 elementary schools plus a few more specialty centers.

Even at that size, it is only the fifth largest in the state.

[Siwsan]

8. It's a suburban area and probably the largest district in the county, so it's relative

When my Dad started at the school district there was one school building. This is an old 'General Motors' bedroom community so it grew, but given what happened with GM, it's amazing how big the area continues to grow. They are already complaining about crowding in the newest high school.

The more urban districts are closing buildings, at an alarming rate.

[mysitcfairy]

2. Many schools are used as polling places.

Being a military brat and spouse, it was fairly common to see schools used as polling places wherever we were stationed. It is hard to have a normal school day when you have people coming and going on campus. Plus it gave me an opportunity to take the kids with me to the polls so they saw it was important to vote in every election, no matter how small.

[Zing Zing Zingbah]

3. Yeah, I've only seen schools close if they are used as polling places

Actually, in my city one of the polling places is a school, but they usually keep the school open while voting is going on. We have too many snow days around here, so they try not to miss any when the weather is decent.

[MyOwnPeace]

4. It's a start....

Election Day should be a 24-hour “call it a holiday” event - on a weekend.
Also, the polls should be open for 24-hours so that everybody has a chance to vote.
And finally, the open-close times should be adjusted through the time zones so that ALL polls in the USA close at exactly the same time so the the west coast voters don’t “give up” by hearing what the east coast has already done.

[Siwsan]

6. Exactly

We don't have 'early voting' in Michigan. And absentee voting is over regulated and pretty much limited to age, illness and being out of state on election day (but, of course, people lie).

Now that I'm officially OLD, I received absentee ballots from my state rep candidate and the UAW, but I still prefer to go to the polling station. We do the whole 'fill in the bubble' type ballot, and then run it through a scanner to make sure it is filled in correctly. I'm paranoid enough that I'd worry about mailing in my vote.

[Rhiannon12866]

9. Excellent plan!

Though the current powers-that-be would definitely oppose it since that would give everyone a chance to vote and we know that increased turnout favors Democrats.