The one "holiday" we can agree on?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You realize a lot of don’t have the day off. Neither of us do. I took off today and my husband took off Friday. Those are regular work days for non government employees.

"Took off" to vote? Do you live in a place with early voting? Or maybe he took off Friday to go vote early? There's early voting on weekends where I live in VA.

I do agree--limiting voting to election day only is horrible. This is why early and mail-in voting enfranchises many more people, especially those who work more than one job and truly have no time to go vote within specific hours on one day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You realize a lot of don’t have the day off. Neither of us do. I took off today and my husband took off Friday. Those are regular work days for non government employees.

https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/news/early-voting-begins-sept-23-nov-8-congressional-midterm-elections

From the link:

Early voting starts Friday, Sept. 23 with three locations open on weekdays.
An additional 13 early voting sites will open on Oct. 27.
Weekend voting hours will be offered on three Saturdays and one Sunday.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You realize a lot of don’t have the day off. Neither of us do. I took off today and my husband took off Friday. Those are regular work days for non government employees.

"Took off" to vote? Do you live in a place with early voting? Or maybe he took off Friday to go vote early? There's early voting on weekends where I live in VA.

I do agree--limiting voting to election day only is horrible. This is why early and mail-in voting enfranchises many more people, especially those who work more than one job and truly have no time to go vote within specific hours on one day.

Uh, no. Schools are closed Tuesday for election day and Friday for Veterans Day. We both work. We split it and took off because our kids are home from school. For those who say - find a one day camp! It’s not that easy to find ones with hours that actually fit your working hours and workable with commutes. We each took a day off this week because we needed supervision for the kids.

[Anonymous]

10:11 again. My post was in response to the idea that this is a holiday everyone agrees on. It’s not a holiday for a lot of working people.

[Anonymous]

^ sorry for the multiple posts. I’ve never had a problem finding time to vote. I’m annoyed with all of the FCPS days off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
In other countries, elections happen on the weekend, often on Sundays. That way, schools don't need to close and long shift workers don't need to feel guilty about not voting. A much greater proportion of voters are available on Sundays compared to other days.

Also, many other countries have much more STRINGENT voting requirements than in the US, where you need to show a secure government-issued ID, vote only in your precinct, can't mail-in or vote early unless in exceptional circumstances requiring a whole lot of verification, etc. I don't understand why some people don't want to have secure elections here.

- European.

Because our standards are STRINGENT enough. I don’t understand why people lie — and don’t even pretend to support their lies with actual data. Actually, I do understand. Lies and spreading propaganda are just a way of life for some of you. Are you getting paid for it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^ sorry for the multiple posts. I’ve never had a problem finding time to vote. I’m annoyed with all of the FCPS days off.

Nice that you personally have never had a problem. I’m sure that all the people with horrendous commutes, child care and elder care issues, those reliant on public transportation to get to the polls, people with multiple jobs that are nowhere near their polling sites, and/ or and people who don’t have your personal set of advantages salute you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^ sorry for the multiple posts. I’ve never had a problem finding time to vote. I’m annoyed with all of the FCPS days off.

Nice that you personally have never had a problem. I’m sure that all the people with horrendous commutes, child care and elder care issues, those reliant on public transportation to get to the polls, people with multiple jobs that are nowhere near their polling sites, and/ or and people who don’t have your personal set of advantages salute you.

Did you not read my post? I took off today because of child care issues. I voted at 6am before my husband left for work. As others pointed out, there are many ways to vote early or by mail now. I’m not sure why you are so angry.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Election Day is a holiday in Virginia. That is why schools and SACC are closed.

They are closed because many of the public schools are used as polling locations. It is a huge safety risk - and against the current safety protocol - to have a never ending stream of strangers entering the schools to queue up to vote. If the schools tried to stay open, I'd keep my kid home. No way they could ever manage the crowds coupled with the kids. Plus, at our HS, the cafeteria is the polling locale. Should the kids not eat on those days?

Then why are they open on other voting days - eg special elections and primaries?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are the kids voting? If not, they should be in school. It's a Tuesday.

(And we have lived in plentty of places where kids go to school at the same time as people vote at the school. It's not an issue.)

You seem to forget that we now live in a country that is incapable of regulating guns so we have to keep schools locked at all times. Accordingly, keeping the front doors open to any school in VA is against safety protocols.
Remember, kids' safety comes last so this is the system that we live with. I think the guns are well taken care of, though, so no worries there.

Why would the front doors need to be open? Every school has a separate entrance to the gym. Vote there. Or, put the polling place somewhere other than the school. This is the tail wagging the dog.

"Every school has a separate entrance to the gym Vote there." You have little idea of how porous a school buiding is once you're inside. Do you plan on local jurisdictions spendng money to put police or other security in the hallways so no one can wander off (intentionally or unintentionally) into other parts of the building? This is not pollworkers' job, by the way.

Also: You seem not to understand how many cars are constantly coming and going from a school parking lot on election day. If there are teachers' etc. cars there, school buses coming and going, kids arriving (voting starts early, before school begins, and some of the heaviest voting times are early morning when kids would be coming in to school)-- all that is a recipe for a kid to be injured or worse, due to the stream of cars coming and going. Do you not see that?

"Put the polling place somewhere other than the school." Schools get used because virtually every community has one or is close to one. Not every community has, say, a community center or recreation center that could be used. Schools as polling places helps make it easier to vote for more people. It increases accessibility tremendously. Where do you suggest putting polling places so they are as accessible and widespread?

As I wrote, tail wagging the dog. You are looking to find reasons not to have school. The better approach (for kids, parents, erc.) to it look for ways to have school. Once you take that perspective, the solutions are many and easy.

Name one that would actually work for every school in the state? I'll wait.
And sorry, with all the chaos surrounding elections right now, I have zero desire to have my kid be in school while the crazies come out. That's just asking for trouble.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Election Day is a holiday in Virginia. That is why schools and SACC are closed.

They are closed because many of the public schools are used as polling locations. It is a huge safety risk - and against the current safety protocol - to have a never ending stream of strangers entering the schools to queue up to vote. If the schools tried to stay open, I'd keep my kid home. No way they could ever manage the crowds coupled with the kids. Plus, at our HS, the cafeteria is the polling locale. Should the kids not eat on those days?

Then why are they open on other voting days - eg special elections and primaries?

Special elections are less common, less attended. In VA, the primaries often happen after school lets out.

[Anonymous]

So no OP we cannot agree on ANY day off!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our office is open. There used to be SACC on Election Day. Now this is a struggle for the single, working parent.

Agree - if it was a holiday for everyone, I'd be fine, but it's a little annoying to have the kids home today (my older child is fairly self sufficient, but the kindergartener can't just be left alone all the time). DH managed to make today a virtual day but he's locked in his office seeing patients until 12:00 and I'm just winging it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are the kids voting? If not, they should be in school. It's a Tuesday.

(And we have lived in plentty of places where kids go to school at the same time as people vote at the school. It's not an issue.)

You seem to forget that we now live in a country that is incapable of regulating guns so we have to keep schools locked at all times. Accordingly, keeping the front doors open to any school in VA is against safety protocols.
Remember, kids' safety comes last so this is the system that we live with. I think the guns are well taken care of, though, so no worries there.

Why would the front doors need to be open? Every school has a separate entrance to the gym. Vote there. Or, put the polling place somewhere other than the school. This is the tail wagging the dog.

"Every school has a separate entrance to the gym Vote there." You have little idea of how porous a school buiding is once you're inside. Do you plan on local jurisdictions spendng money to put police or other security in the hallways so no one can wander off (intentionally or unintentionally) into other parts of the building? This is not pollworkers' job, by the way.

Also: You seem not to understand how many cars are constantly coming and going from a school parking lot on election day. If there are teachers' etc. cars there, school buses coming and going, kids arriving (voting starts early, before school begins, and some of the heaviest voting times are early morning when kids would be coming in to school)-- all that is a recipe for a kid to be injured or worse, due to the stream of cars coming and going. Do you not see that?

"Put the polling place somewhere other than the school." Schools get used because virtually every community has one or is close to one. Not every community has, say, a community center or recreation center that could be used. Schools as polling places helps make it easier to vote for more people. It increases accessibility tremendously. Where do you suggest putting polling places so they are as accessible and widespread?

As I wrote, tail wagging the dog. You are looking to find reasons not to have school. The better approach (for kids, parents, erc.) to it look for ways to have school. Once you take that perspective, the solutions are many and easy.

Name one that would actually work for every school in the state? I'll wait.
And sorry, with all the chaos surrounding elections right now, I have zero desire to have my kid be in school while the crazies come out. That's just asking for trouble.

1. Use somewhere else as a polling place.

2. As was noted above, school is open while people vote in primaries, special elections, etc. Whatever they do for security for those elections has clearly been deemed to be sufficient. (This year's primary, of course, was after school ended for the summer; but in prior years the primaries have been held before school ended.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Election Day is a holiday in Virginia. That is why schools and SACC are closed.

They are closed because many of the public schools are used as polling locations. It is a huge safety risk - and against the current safety protocol - to have a never ending stream of strangers entering the schools to queue up to vote. If the schools tried to stay open, I'd keep my kid home. No way they could ever manage the crowds coupled with the kids. Plus, at our HS, the cafeteria is the polling locale. Should the kids not eat on those days?

Then why are they open on other voting days - eg special elections and primaries?

Special elections are less common, less attended. In VA, the primaries often happen after school lets out.

We did get a last minute special Election Day off in March one year pre Covid