Should you get time off to vote?
By glgcpa
@glgcpa (143)
United States
November 5, 2006 3:00am CST
Do you think employers should allow you time off to vote? If so, should they put a limit on how much time they think it will take you to vote? If they don't put a time limit on how long it should take you to vote, do you think too many employees will take advantage of the employer and take off more time than necessary?
1 person likes this
7 responses
@khushboo1984 (1257)
• India
6 Nov 06
What I have seen in India specially for the state elections is that, the day is declared as a Public Holiday. On that we have no offices or Schools and Colleges. This is very necessary in India because most of the roads are closed because of the fear that there may be some fraudary done. Violence can also be another reason and then the policemen's number also increase on that day. I dont remeber whether a public holiday is given when National elections are held or not.
1 person likes this
@hi_shobhit76 (679)
• India
6 Nov 06
I agree with khushboo and thats what happens in india...and thats how it should be here....if it is not made a holiday then we wont get these many votes which we usually get now...I dont know whats the system in states but what you are talking about is also correct but it depends on country to country.
@glgcpa (143)
• United States
6 Nov 06
I doubt employers here in the states would want to declare this a holiday. Even if they have it as a non-paying holiday, the business would surely suffer. Think about a restaurant, then everyone who is already out voting would have nowhere to eat out or go shopping. That's a lot of lost revenue that many businesses could not afford.
1 person likes this
@glgcpa (143)
• United States
6 Nov 06
It's not that they can't find the time, it's that it's too much of a burden. Think of a family with two working parents and children. They drop their children off at daycare or school in the morning, work all day, and then have to pick up their kids from daycare or school in the evening. Then when the kids are all cranky and wanting dinner (not to mention the parents), they have to either go vote or go home and cook dinner. If they chose to go home and cook dinner, how many later go back out to vote?
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@claudia413 (4280)
• United States
6 Nov 06
We now have the choice of voting early in Florida, so I don't think that would go over here. My husband and I went to vote on a Saturday the first year it was available, stood in line for 3-4 hours, and said "never again". Now, once again, we go after work. It's nice because so many are voting early, and we get in and out in no time. I think there are always some people who would take advantage of time off work for any reason, whether it's to vote or something else.
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@suzieque (2334)
• Canada
12 Nov 06
In Vancouver, BC voting starts as early as 7:00AM and are open pretty late at night. So there's no reason that you have to take time off work.
@AJ1952Chats (2332)
• Anderson, Indiana
25 Nov 06
The polls (at least, here in Indiana) are open from six in the morning until six in the evening, so being able to both vote and put in a full day at work shouldn't be a problem for most people. For those people who would have this kind of problem (e.g. people working several miles outside of their voting precinct), there are other solutions with one of those being voting by proxy and another being, if possible, taking a day off from work (either using a day of your own vacation time or else taking an unpaid holiday).
@owlwings (43910)
• Cambridge, England
12 Nov 06
Yes, I do think that it would encourage more people to vote. However, I am sure that many employers would be unhappy about losing so many man-hours and would then push for compensation from the government.
The other problem (in the UK) is that you have to vote at a designated polling station which is in the area where you live - very rarely the same polling area to where people work and often not even in the same constituency!
