Why is Election Day on a Tuesday? (From Vox)

[gollygee]

We need voting to be convenient for people today, not for the people who could vote way back in 1845, when Election Day was made the first Tuesday after the first Monday of November.

http://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2016/10/26/13375172/election-day-tuesday-voting

Essentially, Congress set up a day that would most accommodate a bunch of (white, male) farmers’ working, traveling, and religious practices.

But as anyone with a cursory knowledge of history can guess, a lot has happened since this hypothetical white male farmer was the primary American voter — hence why, for many Americans, the timing of Election Day can feel very arbitrary and inconvenient.

[Calista241]

1. They also designed the current county system based on the reality of the late 1700's.

The county system was implemented so that nobody was longer than a 1 day ride on a horse away from a judge and a courthouse.

Think how much money we could save it we changed it to conform to today's travel realities.

All the county infrastructure would become superfluous. Untold Billions of dollars could be saved by centralizing with the states many of these county functions.

[PJMcK]

2. On the other hand...

...the county system decentralizes the voting process. This helps prevent fraudulent voting and it's a point President Obama made recently in reaction to Donald Trump's allegations that the voting was "rigged" against him.

[Calista241]

4. I did say "many" of these programs

And we're all going to be voting on the internet in the coming years anyway.

The fact that the voting system is decentralized doesn't mean it's secure or unhackable, it just means it's hard to do and all the more unbelievable if someone were able to actually accomplish it. But the payoff if someone could actually "hack" the system would be immense. I just can't believe nobody has ever thought to try it. Cheating on elections has been around since the idea of democracy was thought up. Think of all the corruption in local or regional politics, and nobody believes they ever cheated in an election? What's the difference between them cheating on a local election, and applying that to a national election in their precinct.

As a part of my job, I read a report from a security firm that talked about the vulnerability of our power systems, specifically the co-op providers (not major generators like Duke Power, the TVA, etc.). And they spend a lot more money on cyber and physical security than you would think. The voting system has not been heavily invested in, ever. Mainly because it's not "attractive" to voters and doesn't generate additional revenue, or provide a visible service.

And cheating on an election doesn't have to be pervasive or system wide. Currently, we (Democrats) are on the side of security in our elections, mainly because our candidate is ahead in the polls; but just a few short years ago, how many people on this board were decrying Diebold? Some people swear to this day that W Bush cheated and stole the election from Al Gore. Do you think it can't happen again?

[Mendocino]

3. Another reason to vote by mail,

it takes away any problems based on location, hours of polling places or convenience.

[erpowers]

5. Make Election Day A National Holiday

Election day does not have to be moved. It should be made into a national election day. Make as many companies close on election day as possible.