Why is election day the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November?  In the 1800’s most Americans were farmers.  They did not live near polling places and had to travel one day to vote.  Weekends were not good due to church attendance and Wednesdays were out because that day was market day.  Spring was time for planting and summer was for harvest.  Voting in November was good because winters were harsh.  But this is not the case today. Maybe we should reconsider when we vote. The percentage of people who vote  in our elections including presidential elections is abysmal when compared to the high turn out in other countries.  If we want a better turn out, how about having it on a weekend on Saturday and Sunday or make Tuesday in November a national holiday.  This would allow those hourly workers more leeway in getting to the polls.  Mail in voting with easy-to-do voting with self addressed stamped envelopes for return of ballots could be sent out early reducing the possibility of getting your vote not being counted because it arrived late.  Mail ballots to every eligible voter early so that it is less likely to arrive late.

I am doing something that I very seldom do–reading Dan Rather’s What Unites Us.  He took Walter Cronkite’s place as the lead reporter on CBS evening news.  This was from a time that national evening news covered world and national news extensive and in-depth.  You could depend on the evening news to give you facts.  On pages 30-33, he talks about the Voting Rights Act of 1965 which protected the rights of minorities.  However, the Roberts’ Supreme court removed many of the voting rights protections which promptly resulted in new road-blocks to minority voting rights particularly in certain southern states.  Rather states that to suppress the vote is to make a mockery of democracy.  These states’ new rules, they say, are to prevent voter fraud which is nearly nonexistent.   What is really being done is quite simply an attempt to prevent minorities from voting; to make it more difficult.   Now Trump has been stating that voting by mail will lead to fraud and would lead to Biden being elected. Never mind that Trump and his family votes by mail. He now says that people should vote by mail and then vote again in person.  That is a felony.  When Attorney General Barr was asked about the legality of this, he said he did not know what the laws in each state was about this.  REALLY!!! He is the top attorney in the nation and voter fraud is a federal crime.  I’m sure everyone of you know it is a crime to double vote, yet now Trump is encouraging people to do this.  When his press secretary was asked about this, she tried to explain it away.  Can you imagine any other President saying this or any of the other lies coming from this White House.  Can you picture President Reagan or any other president doing these things?  We are brain dead to Trump’s crap.  Don’t kid yourself; some of his followers will vote twice, just like when he said injecting bleach would be good and people did it.

I want every eligible voter to be able to have easy and convenient access to voting, but many Republicans want to make this difficult.  They feel that a large turnout will favor Democrats.  We should want all Americans eligible to vote to do so.  I hope you feel this way, too.

What we can do about is this:  contact your Senators and House Representative and ask them how they stand on issues important to you.  Tell them what you think and let them know how you feel about Trump’s attack on the Postal Service and attempts to Tell your senator and congressman what you believe in and let them know that you will vote them out of office.  Remember, they work for us and remind them of this.  Vote early if by mail.  Return it the very same day you get it.  I am going to vote early at my county board of elections and will volunteer at the polls.  This is the most important election in our country’s history in the past 100 years plus.