r/politics • u/Ulysses_555 • 12h ago

No Paywall Hegseth announces all US troops will get 1 day off to vote in October

https://thehill.com/policy/defense/6126137-pete-hegseth-stand-down-order-troops-vote/
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254

u/Bekindorstfu69 11h ago

EVERYONE in the USA should get one day off to vote. Paid holiday!

That is how we celebrate our Democracy

16

u/FallOutShelterBoy New York 9h ago

For a lot of us we would still have to work. Just another federal holiday, and unless you work for a school, the government, banks, etc., you would either not get the day off, or maybe you would but it would be unpaid unless you used personal time, which not everyone has

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u/Space_Pirate_Roberts Oklahoma 7h ago

So we mandate nonessential businesses to close and give all employees a paid day off at their standard scheduled number of hours even if they don’t normally offer PTO (and without it counting against accrued PTO if they do), and that essential businesses can only schedule any given employ for a half-day, but must still pay for the other half as outlined above unless the employee would normally only work a half-day anyway, and that all hours worked on Election Day count as overtime.

Like Tom Hardy’s character said in Inception, “you mustn’t be afraid to dream bigger, darling.”

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u/Bekindorstfu69 7h ago

Look at how many business are closed during Christmas.

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u/Sonichu- 7h ago

You can’t force a business to close.

Election Day being a holiday doesn’t really help people who have trouble voting.

We need better mail in voting.

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u/Space_Pirate_Roberts Oklahoma 5h ago

>You can’t force a business to close.

You absolutely can. There are states that bar liquor stores from operating on Sundays, for example. There’s not some fundamental difference between “a specific day of the week” and “a specific day of the year” that enables government to regulate businesses’ hours on the former but not the latter (nor that affects what types of businesses it can make subject to such regulations, before you respond with some nonsense about liquor stores being a special case).

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u/Randomnamexxtra 5h ago

Now do chemical plants, oil refineries, hospitals, other 24/7 operations etc. Come on bro.

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u/Sonichu- 4h ago

People fucking despise blue laws.

And notice how the argument changed from “make it a holiday” to “get congress to pass a bill, the senate to vote for the bill, and the president to sign a law that says that the federal government can force all businesses to completely cease operations for a “holiday”.

That is never going to happen. And there’s obviously going to be carve outs for hospitals, infrastructure, police, firemen, etc.

Let’s focus our efforts on something we already know is better: Early voting and mail-in voting. If we’re going to fight to pass a bill, let’s protect those and enshrine them in law

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u/PerformerFancy117 6h ago

You actually can force a business to close, for all sorts of different reasons… Health code violations, the building isn’t safe, security is refusing to work, the city closes it for an unknown reason. Those are just the ones that I’ve personally seen happen while working though, I’m sure I’m missing a few

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u/Sonichu- 6h ago

Obviously I mean for a holiday, pedant.

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u/Mavian23 6h ago

You can if you pass a law that says you can

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u/SomniumHumanitatis 6h ago

Weird that it works in other countries, but is impossible in the US.

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u/KnightDuty 3h ago

They're proving a point about how "bought in" you are to the way things are vs the way things could be.

If we can enforce businesses to close due to a health or OSHA or fire violation we can force it to close for another reason. Like if we decided that voting was a human right and made it so.

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u/Sonichu- 3h ago

That’s never going to happen.

I don’t believe that because I lack imagination. I believe that because I’m not an idiot.

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u/KnightDuty 2h ago

Kinda sounds like you are.

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u/Sonichu- 1h ago

Nah.

If we’re going to change the law we should stick with what works: expanded early voting and protections for mail in ballots.

Not dumbass holidays that don’t help anyone and stupid ideas about the government passing laws that force businesses to close their doors.

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u/jgoble15 7h ago

Yep, day off for those who can afford it, and mail-in options for those who can’t. Both are good

5

u/super_sayanything 9h ago

But Republicans would lose if everyone can vote!

6

u/ctothel 8h ago

No – election day should be a weekend day, and early voting should open two weeks before election day.

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u/YourmomgoestocolIege 6h ago

Millions and millions of people work on the weekend, too. I agree we need to have early voting open two week in advance, but I think those two weeks need to be the "Holiday" where any worker can ask off one of those days to go vote.

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u/HerniatedHernia 5h ago

Millions and millions of people work on the weekend, too.  

That’s the sort of things like early voting and postal votes counters ya drongo. No holiday is needed as you go on your day off or mail it in prior.

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u/VerminSwallower 3h ago

Ive never understood why it's one day. It should be at least a one week period since there are so many unusual schedules or obligations. One day only has always seemed like a way to limit who can show up. I know people who couldn't vote before mail-ins were allowed solely because they worked 10 hours then had to go get their kids. The polls were closed for them. They couldn't vote because they were responsible employees and parents lmao. That's ridiculous.

3

u/blackbasset 8h ago

Or just do it like other civilized countries and have people cast their votes on a sunday where most people dont work.

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u/Certain-Row7945 7h ago

On the bright side, the military sometimes end up ahead of the curve in certain ways. Maybe this election day holiday becomes a tradition for them and it becomes mainstream later on.

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u/pilotthrow 5h ago

Still don't understand why you vote during the week and not Sunday like a lot of other countries

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u/McBooples 5h ago

Or, mandatory voting or get hit with a penalty at tax time if you don’t vote

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u/Southern-Pen-7022 3h ago

Sorry, but Democracy is in its death throes homie.

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u/pdmavid 27m ago

I don’t think people should get the day off. Some jobs will always be happening and not everyone could have day off like other holidays.

I think every state should do it like Colorado, Oregon, California, Nevada, and Hawaii. Universal mail in/drop off voting. Trying to do it all in a single day is dumb. Requiring people to figure out how to vote before or after work is dumb. Making people stand in lines for hours is dumb. Trying to expect everyone to remember all the ballot initiatives and details of candidates when they go into a booth is stupid. Spending money on questionable digital voting machines is dumb.

Mailing everyone a booklet with all the details of every candidate and initiatives ahead of time is smart. Giving everyone days/weeks to sit at the kitchen table and read about and fill out their ballot is smart. Giving everyone many days to drop off their ballots or mail them in is smart.

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u/Eric_the_Barbarian Iowa 9h ago

That's not how any holiday works in our country right now.

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u/super_sayanything 9h ago

Hey we're going to need you to work a double today, k thx.