Uniform Closing Time at Polls
How can you justify support of HR 435, the uniform poll closing bill that would shorten voting hours in California?
Why should we make casting a ballot more difficult for everyone who votes late on Election Day, just because some did not go to the polls when they heard early reports from the East?
About 10 million people voted in 1984, with 14% of them turning out between 6 and 8 p.m. Close at 7, as this bill requires, and you’ll be squeezing 1.4 million people into a one-hour time frame.
There is a better idea; in fact, there are two of them.
One is to establish uniform poll closing that does not force early closing here. Extend daylight-saving here and close polls at 10 p.m. in the East. We could keep our standard 13-hour day with polls open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.
The other good idea is to do nothing at all. It’s only when a landslide win is projected that some voters may stay home. If the projections show a very tight race, which is quite possible in 1988, it will increase turnout.
JEAN ASKHAM
Fullerton
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