The Otis Plan

November 7, 1848 was an historic day for the United States. It was on that autumn morning that all of America, for the first time, held a national election for President on the same day. Well, not all of America. Women weren't allowed to vote for another 72 years. Slaves, of course, weren't even citizens so they couldn't vote. And men still had to be 21 years old in order to vote. So, let me re-phrase that. On November 7, 1848 white men who were older than 21 all voted for the President of the United States on the same day for the first time. Before that time it was merely required by the Contsitution that all of the electoral votes were submitted by a certain date in December. Different states held elections on different days which often led to men voting more than once. But in 1848 the government decided that everyone, er...all white men older than 21, should vote on the same day. It was a good idea. And being an agricultural society it was decided that the vote should take place just after the harvest. The first of November was a good idea. And a Tuesday made more sense so those men who needed to travel many miles would not have to do so on a Sunday, the Lord's day. So, it was agreed upon that the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November would be a National Election Day. What a great idea! That is, for all the men in 1848.

November 2, 2004 will someday be considered another historic day in the United States. It was another National Election Day that was to determine who would be President of the United States. All indications leading up that date were that it would be a close election. People were so stirred by the love of their country or their civic pride or maybe just hatred for one of the two candidates that thousands stood in lines for many hours, well into the night just to cast a vote. My cowboy hat goes off to those who withstood the cold long lines to show the world the power of democracy. However, if we are truly the leaders of the world and have a truly perfect democracy we must learn from our mistakes. What was good and made sense in 1848 may not be best in 2004. We should not have to force men and women, white or black, young or old to stand in line for two or four or six hours just to take part in democracy. There is a simpler way. And I know what it is. I give you, the Otis Plan.

The Otis Plan calls for an election process that spans four days. Open the polls on a Thursday afternoon and close them later that evening. Open them again on early Friday morning and close them in the late afternoon. Saturday morning, open up sometime before noon and stay open until the late afternoon. Finally, give everyone one last shot on Sunday, say noon to four. Then close the doors. That should give everyone more than 30 hours over four days to cast their vote. If they can't find time within those days, then too bad. It seems to me that one of the reasons that the lines were so long this past election day was that there is such a limited time for people to get to the polls. The people that showed up between 6:00 and 7:00 in the evening had already worked all day. In 1848 that wasn't the case. As a matter of fact, and as I have already mentioned, Monday was provided as a travel day for those living in remote areas. Concessions were made then, to adjust to their society. Why not make concessions now?

Obviously there are some issues with the volunteers who work the polls. Would they really want to do it over four days? I'm not sure, but I would have liked to ask them that question at 4:00 in the morning on November 3rd.

There could also be some problems concerning the release of election results. But result are not officially released until all of the polls are closed. And as far as exit polls are concerned, if we found anything out in the last two Presidential Elections it's that exit polls aren't worth a crap.

There may be many people who would argue that the Otis Plan is going to far. Sure, there's already a 12 or 13 hour window on a weekday to make it the polls. I voted before I went to work, at 6:40 in the morning. Actually I arrived at 6:40 and didn't get out until about 7:45. Which made me about a half an hour late to work. And although my boss, even if he wasn't my father-in-law, couldn't legally discipline me, if I were on the clock, I wouldn't have been paid. But still, millions and millions voted well before the long lines even formed late in the evening. So why should we have to make it any easier?

I'll give you 6 good reasons to make voting easier: Germany, Japan, South Korea, South Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq. You want some even better reasons? Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Ivory Coast and Sudan. There have been countless deaths of American soldiers who fought to give millions of people around the world the right to choose their own leaders and laws. And there are millions of people still fighting today for that same right. If we are willing to fight to the death for the rights of others to vote freely in an open election, then shouldn't we provide the example of accomodating the needs of all of our own citizens so they can vote as they desire.

I think that we can never make it easy enough to vote. And actually, we should do everything in our power, no matter how difficult it may seem, to make it as easy as possible.