Next Tuesday is a presidential Election Day. And there's always problems. One is the media announcing the winner of eastern states too early, perhaps suppressing the vote in western states. In 1980, it was all over by about 6pm on the West Coast. I remember I was in store and on a TV they were displaying for sale, Jimmy Carter was conceding already. I was shocked. My sister said where she lived in Idaho, people heard this and got out of line to vote. (I voted absentee because I was in college at the time.) Long-serving Democrat Frank Church, senator for Idaho, lost that year and that might have been part of the reason why.
In 2000, lots of news outlets called Florida for Gore and made it look as if he were going to win the election. They did this even before the polls were closed in the part of Florida that is in the Central Time Zone (the panhandle). This probably suppressed the Republican vote on the West Coast and the part of Florida that's in the Central Time Zone.
So, do we forbid the media from announcing who won states when? That probably wouldn't stand up to constitutional scrutiny.
But I have an idea!
Have election day run for 24 hours from midnight Eastern Time to midnight Eastern Time. That's 9pm to 9pm Pacific Time. Then all the polls close at the same time. No one concedes early!
This would also give people 24 hours to vote, making access easier. Not many people might vote at 2am, but people just getting off a swing shift might. And lines might be shorter because people have more options of when to vote.
Then you wake up the next morning and, one would hope, know who won the election.
What do you think of my idea? Do you think it would help voting? Let me know in the comments below.
No comments:
Post a Comment