Tag: elections

Go Vote

It’s election day. Make sure you vote today.

Only 42% of registered Americans came out to vote in the 2014 midterms. The numbers get even worse when you look at millennials, only about 20% of millennials showed up in the last two midterm elections. Add in the vast number of unregistered voters and you have a lot of government being selected by a minority of the population.

If you are thinking of not voting, realize that casting your vote sends a message to future candidates and platforms that they can’t rely on just the most vocal electorate.

It’s likely that most of the races on your ballot, like mine, are uncontested. A few may be hotly contested. It doesn’t matter; just go vote.

Voting and Compliance

The midterm elections are upon us, which means you get to vote for your next congressman and about a 1/3 of the senators are up for election and most of you get to vote for your senator. Don’t forget the state and local elections.

In many states that means employers must allow their employees to have time off to vote. In 31 states, voting takes legal precedence over work.

Make sure that you vote and that your employees have time to vote.

For each polling place here in my Commonwealth of Massachusetts:

  • They must display the national flag. [MGL c.54, §25A]
  • They can’t serve alcohol in the any portion of the building designated as a polling place. [MGL c.54, §24]
  • You also carry intoxicating liquor into the polling place. [MGL c.54, §73]
  • Voting machines have to suitably lighted so you can read the ballot. [MGL c.54, §33A]
  • You can’t smoke at the polling place. [MGL c.54, §73]

So if you’re trying to vote in Massachusetts and you just bought a drink, the lights are dim, you’re smoking a cigar and you can’t salute the flag, then your polling place is not in compliance.

Sources:

Image is from Woot! Shirts

Updated to correct my voting miscalculation.