Friday, November 02, 2012

One Dumb Idea That Thanksfully Looks Dead In The Water

Jonah Goldberg does a good job reflecting my opinion on the silly idea of moving Election Day as a result of Sandy's destruction...
Chuck Todd who knows vastly more about politics than I do, should recall that 9/11 did not delay the New York mayoral race. It delayed the primary — which was scheduled on 9/11. Sandy made landfall eight days before the election — and wasn’t an act of war. If 9/11 is the best precedent for moving the federal election day, there is no precedent for it. And there is none. Sure, some local elections have been delayed for this or that reason. But this country held elections during the Civil War! Even FDR who violated a near sacred tradition to run for a third term and fourth term, still ran for them.

This country is so bizarrely schizophrenic about voting it drives me crazy. We are constantly bathed in platitudes about how vital, wonderful, special, glorious and sacred voting is. But don’t you dare ask the American people to put the slightest bit of effort into the practice. It must be convenient. It must be easy. It must be on my timetable, like a DVR’d episode of “Nashville” or the “Price is Right.”
Agreed.  As Goldberg points out, individual states have the ability to choose electors on whatever day they choose, so an individual state could move the date if they so choose.  But there's no reason to push for any sort of national delay

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