Yes. They figured if they made it harder, people who have to work, and have trouble taking off from their job, and might have trouble getting to the polls, or might not be willing to stand in long lines in undertstaffed urban places, might not vote.
While their demographic of white collar. retired, work-at-home, etc could have an easier time voting in well staffed convenient suburban voting places.
You are entitled to unpaid time off to vote. But people work quite some distance from their polling place and many people don't own cars. They have to decide if getting a few unpaid hours off is worth it, or will even provide enough time to get to the polling place in time.
Even in places where it's a holiday won't help the poor. Big businesses and companies close on the holidays, but low wage jobs run every day of the year.
Suburban polling places are well funded and abundant. Most people need not wait but a few minutes. But poorer areas have fewer polling places per person and waits of many hours is not uncommon. This is by design.
That all makes sense, thanks. Where I live (semi rural Canada) there are plenty of stations and its never takes me more than a few minutes to vote, although I always vote early.
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