Should general elections be held earlier for weather-related reasons?
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  Presidential Elections - Analysis and Discussion
  Presidential Election Process (Moderator: muon2)
  Should general elections be held earlier for weather-related reasons?
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Poll
Question: Should general elections be held later for weather-related reasons?
#1
Yes - move them to October
 
#2
Yes - move them to September or earlier
 
#3
No - move them later
 
#4
No - keep the status quo
 
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Partisan results

Total Voters: 31

Author Topic: Should general elections be held earlier for weather-related reasons?  (Read 21386 times)
Nichlemn
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« on: January 20, 2015, 05:43:28 PM »

Now, I only know what the weather is like in the USA in early November by climate charts. But it seems to me that it's late enough to have a fair chance of wintry weather in many places. It's well established that poor weather has adverse effects on voter turnout. So wouldn't it be better if general elections were held in October? It seems to me that the primary reason for holding it as late as November was that the harvest would be over by then, an antiquated rationale.

Of course, there are many other reforms that would make voting easier and make this largely unnecessary, like expanding vote-by-mail, absentee voting, early voting and so on. But if those weren't an option, would this be a good idea?

(edit: poll should say "earlier")
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Linus Van Pelt
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« Reply #1 on: January 22, 2015, 08:11:17 PM »

It's well established that poor weather has adverse effects on voter turnout.

I wonder how much of this effect is precipitation and how much is temperature, though. I can see a casual voter deciding to stay home on a rainy day, but rain is not that well correlated with the season.

I don't want to start one of those silly Atlas debates about what really constitutes winter or cold, but throughout the country, early November isn't all that cold by local standards. I have a harder time imagining people not going outside on a clear November day.
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Stranger in a strange land
strangeland
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« Reply #2 on: January 23, 2015, 10:59:44 AM »

Winter weather is rarely bad enough in November to make voting difficult. However, I do think that either voting should be moved from Tuesday to Saturday or Sunday, or that election day should be made a federal holiday.
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Meeker
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« Reply #3 on: January 23, 2015, 06:46:13 PM »

In my ideal world, general elections would take place sometime in late June or early July, allowing outdoor canvassing in May and June before the weather starts getting too hot and miserable. We would also switch to vote-by-mail or allow two days of consecutive voting, either Friday/Saturday or Saturday/Sunday.
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True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)
Ernest
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« Reply #4 on: January 24, 2015, 12:24:15 AM »

For the US, the risk of hurricanes is greatest in August and September, so if election day were moved earlier, October is the only realistic option if trying to avoid bad weather is the reason.  Not that early November has awful weather.
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muon2
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« Reply #5 on: January 24, 2015, 01:54:09 PM »

I had the opportunity to watch German local elections in Feb 2002. The weather was cold and wintery, but it didn't seem to impact turnout. In the US the problem is often apathetic voters who will find an excuse not to vote. If the weather's bad, that can be their reason, if it's good there will be another reason.
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solarstorm
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« Reply #6 on: February 05, 2015, 02:31:43 PM »

Before even considering changing the election month, they should move Election Day to Sunday, like in 99% of all countries.
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muon2
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« Reply #7 on: February 08, 2015, 10:50:06 PM »

Before even considering changing the election month, they should move Election Day to Sunday, like in 99% of all countries.

Early voting has provided a choice of days to vote in many states, yet 2014 was still extremely low turnout. I see no reason to think putting the last day on Sunday would change that.
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pbrower2a
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« Reply #8 on: May 12, 2015, 06:48:46 PM »

Early November is about right -- too early for bad winter weather and too late for summer lethargy.
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