Our Vienna school is a voting center. In all the years I have voted, there are never more than 4-5 people at anytime in the cafeteria where voting happens. I don’ know why they have to close the entire school for it. They could consolidate voting locations.

Anonymous wrote:I'm a DC resident (and FCPS employee). Everyone gets mailed a ballot. It could not be any easier to vote. I wish Virginia would consider that option.

Nah, too many GOP in positions of power who have a vested interest in masking it hard to vote.

Anonymous wrote:

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

Me! I'm a single, working parent and our care is closed. If school or care was open I could go vote easily.

I remember taking my DC to vote when he was a toddler, waiting in lines after work hours, it wasn't easy but we did it together. If I held him he didn't mind waiting, he was a cuddle bug. I'd explain to him why we were there and that it might take a bit of time but that what we were doing was important. He'd entertain himself by people-watching, taking a stroll up and down the hallway.

Later on, we still ventured out and when he asked why we had to wait I said because it is our civic duty to vote, I would tell him how people like us were once upon a time denied the right to vote, and later took their lives into their hands in order to execute their right to vote, endured indignities that neither he nor I will ever have to endure in order to vote... each year the lessons progressed in complexity.

When I went to vote on Tuesday my now tween, who is well into the stage where he can be left alone for hours at a time, still insisted on accompanying me to the voting booth (this from a kid who'd rather spend time with almost anyone else these days).

The ballot was a bit boring this time around, but he still wanted to read it and did his part by inserting it into the scanner and collecting his sticker on the way out.

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.)

-signed, The Let's Make It As Hard as Possible to Vote person.
Let me guess who your party is?

How does having your kids at school make it harder to vote?

Finding enough places to vote, for one. Schools are a perfect, central location for most and there are a lot of them, so people don't have to wait hours to vote like the do in some places. .
If the kids are home, you just bring with you. I always did.

OR we could allow easy, early voting. Vote by mail. Without any bit--ing and moaning and then it won't matter about "election day." But the GOP is the one trying to undermine those things even though they've been used successfully in some states and for the military.

You are going in circles. You can have kids at school AND let people vote at the school. In the (major northeastern) city we lived in until moving here, our polling place was in a school and the school was always in session.

In some cases you can.

I used to work in a charter school in DC that was a polling place, and we stayed open. But the building was built with the idea of renting space to outside groups in mind. There were floor to ceiling gates that closed, and the multipurpose room and a set of bathrooms were completely sealed off. No one was sharing hallways or bathrooms with kids.

Plus we had a lot of parking.

A lot of high schools are built that way. The gym can be sealed off, so they're open for a basketball game with lots of fans, but there's no access to the rest. But I've never seen a regular public school like that.

I'm a DC resident (and FCPS employee). Everyone gets mailed a ballot. It could not be any easier to vote. I wish Virginia would consider that option.

Tuesday as election day has a long history due to the way US society was structured back in the day. https://www.britannica.com/story/why-are-us-elections-held-on-tuesdays

Of course elections should either be a federal holiday or on weekend. We should also have mandatory voting (just signing the ballot no need to actually cast a vote) and vote by mail option for everyone without any reason. But we dont want everyone to vote so here we are.

Wow, I remember back in the 90's going to high school on election day because you could trust the adults not to shoot up the place while voting.

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.)

-signed, The Let's Make It As Hard as Possible to Vote person.
Let me guess who your party is?

How does having your kids at school make it harder to vote?

Finding enough places to vote, for one. Schools are a perfect, central location for most and there are a lot of them, so people don't have to wait hours to vote like the do in some places. .
If the kids are home, you just bring with you. I always did.

OR we could allow easy, early voting. Vote by mail. Without any bit--ing and moaning and then it won't matter about "election day." But the GOP is the one trying to undermine those things even though they've been used successfully in some states and for the military.

You are going in circles. You can have kids at school AND let people vote at the school. In the (major northeastern) city we lived in until moving here, our polling place was in a school and the school was always in session.

Did you also walk 20 miles in the snow, uphill to school, with no boots?
No one cares what you did "back in the day." These are different times. And with gun nuts all over, and many school murders later, there is no appetite her for random people walking through the schools while kids are there. It's not happening.

DP. Hopefully they stop the book fairs during the school day. I’ve never been asked for ID and the PTA is already sending blast emails about how it’s coming up and we should go buy books. It’s always open during the day and in the evening. Yeah, it’s not the same, I know.

I’m curious, how many times has there been violence during voting? The elementary schools around us have street parking so I don’t want to hear about that as an excuse.

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.)

-signed, The Let's Make It As Hard as Possible to Vote person.
Let me guess who your party is?

How does having your kids at school make it harder to vote?

Finding enough places to vote, for one. Schools are a perfect, central location for most and there are a lot of them, so people don't have to wait hours to vote like the do in some places. .
If the kids are home, you just bring with you. I always did.

OR we could allow easy, early voting. Vote by mail. Without any bit--ing and moaning and then it won't matter about "election day." But the GOP is the one trying to undermine those things even though they've been used successfully in some states and for the military.

You are going in circles. You can have kids at school AND let people vote at the school. In the (major northeastern) city we lived in until moving here, our polling place was in a school and the school was always in session.

Did you also walk 20 miles in the snow, uphill to school, with no boots?
No one cares what you did "back in the day." These are different times. And with gun nuts all over, and many school murders later, there is no appetite her for random people walking through the schools while kids are there. It's not happening.

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.)

-signed, The Let's Make It As Hard as Possible to Vote person.
Let me guess who your party is?

How does having your kids at school make it harder to vote?

Finding enough places to vote, for one. Schools are a perfect, central location for most and there are a lot of them, so people don't have to wait hours to vote like the do in some places. .
If the kids are home, you just bring with you. I always did.

OR we could allow easy, early voting. Vote by mail. Without any bit--ing and moaning and then it won't matter about "election day." But the GOP is the one trying to undermine those things even though they've been used successfully in some states and for the military.

You are going in circles. You can have kids at school AND let people vote at the school. In the (major northeastern) city we lived in until moving here, our polling place was in a school and the school was always in session.

No you cannot. Esp in this day and age, with gun violence, there is no chance voting will ever be held in the schools again while the kids are there. It's just not happening.

That's not "circles", hon, it's fact.

Anonymous wrote:Or we could vote on a Saturday and no need for a bogus holiday.

+1. Although I do like the ballot drop off boxes. They've been around for weeks in DC, so it's easy to drop off a ballot.