By Bryce Kelly, Staff Writer
Election day in America is a day all citizens should cherish. It is the day we the people of America get to vote for who holds public office locally, in our state and nationally as well. Everyone agrees voting is one of our greatest freedoms and ways to let our voice be heard.
However, in this election cycle pundits have been critical of how Americans may vote. A widespread belief by pundits and politicians is that there will be difficulties in our election. These difficulties would be lessened if America turned its election day into an election week.
One of the difficulties that could be faced is foreign interference. Russia and Iran have already been cited as countries who are looking to interfere in our election. Whether it’s through Facebook and Twitter bots or by hacking voter booths, Americans are worried about the safety of their ballot.
Another reason to be worried about the safety of the ballot is because of the amount of people voting by mail. Millions of voters have already voted by mail this year because of safety concerns over the coronavirus. Voting by mail is a viable option but critics argue the system isn’t ready for the increase in voters by mail. President Trump and his supporters have claimed mail in voting will lead to fraud. Trump supporters have pushed theories that ballots had been sent out to dead people and people may get two ballots. While neither of these theories have much evidence behind them, there is a lingering question about how well the postal service and the election offices can handle the increase in mail in voting.
In almost any other election, if people don’t want to vote by mail then they don’t think twice about voting in person. However, this year voting in person isn’t appealing to many voters. Americans are worried about catching the coronavirus by standing in long lines with countless strangers around them.
All these points lead to one conclusion: An election week would be better than an election day. If there was an election week, voters would be less worried about the coronavirus because there would be less people. The more days to vote the more options people could have to show up and try and socially distance. Long lines have always been an issue in some parts of the country. Whether it’s due to voter suppression or simply a bad layout of voting places, Americans have had to wait hours to cast their vote in past elections. Working Americans don’t have that time to spend when they have families and jobs to attend to. Lines would decrease in size if people were given a week to vote, not a day.
Americans’ most powerful form of speech shouldn’t be suppressed into one day. Give Americans a week to vote and voter turnout will improve, as well as our country and it’s democracy.
kellybw19@bonaventure.edu
