Should Ohio allow three extra days for the military to vote?

[Caela]

I agree that something should be done to better empower our voters. This is a sad thing that only something like 1 in 3 or 4 eligible voters actually vote. And if changing poll times, access and or days would help I would endorse such a thing happily.

At this point I think it's something like 1 in 4. Only about 50-60% of people even bother to register and only about half of those actually go out and vote. Some just don't, some don't the get the opportunity. If I am scheduled to work that day I don't have the chance. We only schedule one tech per shift on my floor so if I'm not there, then my nurses end up having to pick up the slack and most days we don't actually have enough of those scheduled either. Luckily for me this is unlikely, I don't work a lot of Tuesdays so I'm more likely to be off than to be working, but if that's how it falls on my schedule I am just hosed because I have to be there before the polls open and they are closed by the time I get off.

[Valerian]

At this point I think it's something like 1 in 4. Only about 50-60% of people even bother to register and only about half of those actually go out and vote. Some just don't, some don't the get the opportunity. If I am scheduled to work that day I don't have the chance. We only schedule one tech per shift on my floor so if I'm not there, then my nurses end up having to pick up the slack and most days we don't actually have enough of those scheduled either. Luckily for me this is unlikely, I don't work a lot of Tuesdays so I'm more likely to be off than to be working, but if that's how it falls on my schedule I am just hosed because I have to be there before the polls open and they are closed by the time I get off.

Out of curiosity, what are the hours for your local polling places?  I'm wondering because I've never actually heard anyone around here complain about being unable to get to the polls on a Tuesday, since they're open from 7 am to 8 pm.  If you have to work some sort of 12-hour shift right in the middle of those times then it's going to be difficult, obviously, but I have several friends who work odd swing shifts and they've always been able to make it to vote.  If you know your work schedule far enough ahead of time, you can always cast an absentee ballot if there's going to be a conflict.

I suspect part of the problem with making voting extend over multiple days is that many of the workers are volunteers, but there I'm just guessing.

On the other hand, you have the possibility of identity theft and voter fraud.  If we aren't sure whether it happens, it would be madness just to believe that it doesn't.  For example, Madison had 119% of voter turnout during the Scott Walker recall election.  Now, it's possible that 6 people showed up for every 5 who are registered, but should our justice system be making sure it's all on the level, or should we just shrug and hope that it's fine?

Just as a clarification, that number is incorrect.  Two areas of the city had above 100%: Ward 70 in Madison reported 106% turnout, while Ward 3 had 102%.  Ward 70, for example, had 951 pre-registered voters, and 1,017 ballots turned in -- so not a huge number of voters registered on the day.  One ward that mainly serves the college students had only 7% turnout, since the elections were held when school wasn't in session.  The overall voter turnout for the city came out to 73%.

[Caela]

Out of curiosity, what are the hours for your local polling places?  I'm wondering because I've never actually heard anyone around here complain about being unable to get to the polls on a Tuesday, since they're open from 7 am to 8 pm.  If you have to work some sort of 12-hour shift right in the middle of those times then it's going to be difficult, obviously, but I have several friends who work odd swing shifts and they've always been able to make it to vote.  If you know your work schedule far enough ahead of time, you can always cast an absentee ballot if there's going to be a conflict.

I suspect part of the problem with making voting extend over multiple days is that many of the workers are volunteers, but there I'm just guessing.
Just as a clarification, that number is incorrect.  Two areas of the city had above 100%: Ward 70 in Madison reported 106% turnout, while Ward 3 had 102%.  Ward 70, for example, had 951 pre-registered voters, and 1,017 ballots turned in -- so not a huge number of voters registered on the day.  One ward that mainly serves the college students had only 7% turnout, since the elections were held when school wasn't in session.  The overall voter turnout for the city came out to 73%.

I actually do work 12 hour shifts from 7a-730p with a 20-30 minute commute time depending on lights and traffic.

[Trieste]

Looks like the contention is getting worse, not better.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/chrisgeidner/ohio-secretary-of-states-threatens-to-remove-democ

[Callie Del Noire]

Looks like the contention is getting worse, not better.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/chrisgeidner/ohio-secretary-of-states-threatens-to-remove-democ

Wow...while I might disagree with their interpretation of the directive, I am fairly sure that the secretary might have overstepped his bounds there. He had the tie breaker, but to follow up with outright removal...

[Chelemar]

Just an update on the situation

Judge pauses Ohio early voting restriction