Should polling day and 'polling results' day be bank holidays ?

[Terbinator]

As per title. Do you think they should be a public holiday of sorts - at least it would get rid of the 'I didn't have time to vote' excuse (possibly, there's always one) and maybe for results day you need the day off to come to terms that we're going back to '79 again, possibly.

[Salazaar]

'I didn't have time to vote' is just an excuse. The polls are open from 7am until 10pm and postal and proxy votes are available if you really work so hard that you can't find half an hour in a 15 hour window.

If we must have another free holiday (which do cost the country money) then lets make it a better excuse than 'we're a bunch of lazy bums'!

[jim]

I think so. My girlfriend gets the day off because the school she teaches at is closed for use as a polling station. This is unfair.

[Salazaar]

I think so. My girlfriend gets the day off because the school she teaches at is closed for use as a polling station. This is unfair.

That is unfair actually, think of all those kids missing a day's schooling because your district council couldn't find a better place to hold the poll. I'd write to them and complain.

[kalniel]

As per title. Do you think they should be a public holiday of sorts - at least it would get rid of the 'I didn't have time to vote' excuse (possibly, there's always one)

Postal vote?

[father smurf]

Why not simple have the voting day held on the same day as an existing bank holiday?

problem solved - jobs a goodun!

[oolon]

Why not simple have the voting day held on the same day as an existing bank holiday?

problem solved - jobs a goodun!

Because people go away on bank holidays? The reason they are on thursdays is this is the day of the week people are least likely to not go to work. If we gave people the day off work less might vote as they might just go out for the day instead.

[scaryjim]

Plus how do you reconcile giving everyone else a day off but making those poor polling clerks and counters work all day, right through the night, and then back again the following day if there's a local election too? If it was a public holiday for everyone else you'd have to pay them even more to persuade them to work...

As others have said, there's no excuse for not voting - there's plenty of time on the day, and postal / proxy voting if you think you'll forget. I can't think of anything worse than having two entire days off to worry about who the new shower of *ahem* will be and how badly they'll mess up the country...

[Lee H]

That is unfair actually, think of all those kids missing a day's schooling because your district council couldn't find a better place to hold the poll. I'd write to them and complain.

It's also unfair on parents as they have to try and organise childcare arrangements which is no easy task, especially when they close the whole school for a day and when a few schools in an area close it becomes a nightmare

[dangel]

If you're to bastard lazy to vote then giving you a day off isn't going to motivate you. As said, it's open crack o' dawn to late at night anyway.

[HSK]

I voted yes, because a friend of mine teaches at a primary school and she doesn't need to go in tomorrow! An excuse to hit the bar on a weekday!

[Flash477]

I voted no, because many people take holidays on bank holidays, and so wouldn't be around to vote.

[Saracen]

No. The country is deep in economic poop and we're facing spending cuts and almost certainly tax rises on a scale unprecedented in modern times as it is. The economic cost of giving the whole country another day off is simply madness.

[Terbinator]

No. The country is deep in economic poop and we're facing spending cuts and almost certainly tax rises on a scale unprecedented in modern times as it is. The economic cost of giving the whole country another day off is simply madness.

What if it was convention so it would happen regardless of the recession ? We could always use one of the existing days off we have - TBH i hate bank holidays, and Sundays

[Saracen]

What if it was convention so it would happen regardless of the recession ? We could always use one of the existing days off we have - TBH i hate bank holidays, and Sundays

I still can't see the point. I can't see the link between Bank Hols and polling day, especially when polling day is very mobile. It could be at pretty much any time of year. Given the wide hours the polling stations are open, and the growing postal vote system (not that that isn't without it's issues), I don't see the need.

[weegie.geek]

Definitely not. The apathetic still won't vote, they'll just find another excuse.

Gotta agree with the people complaining about schools being closed. Plenty of areas with community centres etc still close the school for the day. If there's no community centre, what about a church? Even hiring portakabins would be better than closing a school, and the inconvenience (and lost revenue) for everyone.

In fact, NOT closing the schools would probably encourage more people to vote. It'd be a pain in the arse to drag your 4.2 down to the community centre with you. With them out of the way until 3pm it gives more time to vote, and less available excuses against it.

Postal voting, I can imagine, is something you mean to get around to, but never manage to by the time it's too late. How would turnout stats change if we were able to vote by phone or over the interwebs? It doesn't get much more convenient than that.