According to the bigass "KNOW YOUR RIGHTS!" info board posted in my office's kitchen, employers (in NY state, at least) have to give employees 2 hours at either the beginning of the end of their shift to vote, if the employee does not have 4 hours of their own time to spare.
And with compulsory voting, this would be a lot more likely to actually happen, or for workers to actually feel free to request this without fear of repercussions.
Well, it usually takes me about half an hour. But I was thinking of the people who had to wait in line eight hours to vote....
And that again is something that does seem to disproportionately affect lower income areas.
Walking up to the guy voting before you, punching him int he back of the head and while he's convulsing, stealing his ballot.
Typically you can only vote absentee if you have some reason why you can't make it to the polls on election day.
Really? That must be a your-state thing. IIRC, WA's been talking about making some elections absentee ballot only.
And donkey voting is...
Oh, sorry, I defined it earlier on. It's voting straight down the ballot paper (or, if you're feeling inventive, straight up the ballot paper, or I guess some other pattern) as a substitute for voting an actual preference. (It can happen, of course, that voting straight down the paper is your actual preference, which is not a donkey vote, as it would not change were the order on the ballot to be changed.)
IIRC, WA's been talking about making some elections absentee ballot only.
Didn't another state do that? Oregon, maybe?
Walking up to the guy voting before you, punching him int he back of the head and while he's convulsing, stealing his ballot.
I think that would be voting with malice aforethought.
And now I'm imagining you trying to haul a touchscreen voting machine out the door unnoticed.
It's voting straight down the ballot paper
Okay, I get it. I don't see what it has to do with my point--if it's worth avoiding, then isn't it thought to be occurring a significant amount? Or at least to be a risk of polluting the results? And therefore a donkey vote is worth less than a vote you'd cast?
Okay, I get it. I don't see what it has to do with my point--if it's worth avoiding, then isn't it thought to be occurring a significant amount? Or at least to be a risk of polluting the results? And therefore a donkey vote is worth less than a vote you'd cast?
What it has to do with your point is that donkey voting isn't an issue of uninformed voters voting. It's closer to voter apathy.
Donkey voting accounts for between 1% and 2% of the vote in Australia, incidentally. Not a huge amount, but obviously it could become significant in marginal seats.
Ok, it's been fun, but it's past 3 here and I really need to get to bed now. Off to sleep the sleep of the doomed.
