Reference: Democrats unite behind voting rights bill as it faces a Senate roadblock – The Boston Globe
While there is certainly much to detest about the Democrats’ pending voting “rights” bill, it is not without its [presumably] unintentional hilarity. Even attempts by moderate Democrats like Manchin to suggest changes still result in some iodiocy.
For example, even Manchin’s changes “would also expand early voting, make Election Day a federal holiday and make it easier to vote by mail.”
OK, so “Juneteenth” is a brand-new federal holiday not even a week old. And now they want to make Election Day a federal holiday. There’s two more paid holidays for federal employees with the inevitable spillover into the private, state and municipal sectors, which amounts to the taxpayers footing the bill for even more paid time off. Just see, for example, an article in today’s Boston Herald about how paid time off adds up. Buyouts for Massachusetts State troopers confirm police shedding ranks (bostonherald.com).
But the most comical aspect is advocating for Election Day as a federal holiday when the rest of the bill makes the actual day of the election almost completely irrelevant. Expansion – and mandating – of mail voting and early voting certainly are going to at least tend to make for far fewer voters on the actual election day, so why the heck should that be a holiday? Just another shining example of your elected representatives hard at work (well, what passes for work in Washington, which is really just partisan posturing) spending your money on useless foolishness rather than addressing the many actual meaningful and real issues confronting them.