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by plandis 3572 days ago
It's a good thing then that the elderly (primary recipients of social security) vote in high numbers.

Now, if only the government did anything to the benefit of younger people (or really anything at all, seriously, look at what has been passed in this session) perhaps young people could be bothered to leave work (which will in a lot of cases cause illegal employer push back) and vote.

2 comments

> perhaps young people could be bothered to leave work (which will in a lot of cases cause illegal employer push back) and vote.

If you're going to make an argument about widespread illegal activity, please provide some evidence of that. While there are isolated cases of this happening, there is scant evidence that this is widespread ('a lot of cases').

Remember that, in most states, it's not that you're allowed to take leave whenever you want in order to vote. It's that employers must ensure that you have sufficient time during polling hours to vote (ie, if your shift starts at 9AM, and polls open at 6AM, they have satisfied this requirement). If you do not have sufficient time outside working hours to vote, employers may not punish you for taking time to vote. (Note that this time may be paid or unpaid leave, depending on the state and nature of employment).

The reason young people don't vote is not because of insufficient time off. (If it were, youth voting rates in states like Oregon and Washington, which allow by-mail voting, would be dramatically higher than they currently are. As it is, they're higher than other states, but demographically-adjusted nowhere near what you would expect if insufficient time off were the primary driver of low youth turnout).

There are now more Millenials who can vote than the 65+ cohort. What exactly should the government be doing for them to entice them to vote other than what they're already doing (providing a stable society, infrastructure, etc)?

It is entirely your own fault if you don't spend time educating yourself on the issues and don't vote for a candidate who is congruent with your beliefs. If you don't find a candidate to your liking, run yourself.

Much harder than posting pics to Instagram or swiping left or right, but them the breaks of democracy.