One of Republicans' pernicious schemes to depress voter turnout is hidden in the 2005. Daylight Savings Time will no longer end on the last Sunday in October, but a week later - the first Sunday in November. Election day is the "first tuesday after the first monday" in November. So the new rules put the time change (almost) ALWAYS 48 hours before election day (unless November 1 is a Monday, as in even-numbered election years 2010, 2032, 2038 and 2060).
Right now, the last Sunday in October is 48 hours before election day only during those years listed above. The only other times that happened in an election year were: 2004, 1982, and 1976 (note: universal rules on DST not adopted until 1966).
My antipathy to DST is well known by some, but this is another reason to be angry. Grogginess will depress voting, I am sure. Was 2004 a lesson that encouraged Republicans? Did Kerry lose Ohio because it got dark earlier than people were used to? DST affects northern states more dramatically than southern ones also.
Dammit, I know this is a conspiracy...
Tuesday, October 03, 2006
Voting in the Dark
Posted by The Law Talking Guy at 5:33 PM
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9 comments:
Election days should be holidays anyway.
// posted by Raised By Republicans
Actually, turning the clock back gives us an extra hour of sleep.
// posted by UNWest
FYI, on election day in 2004, it was raining so hard, it was probably dark all day long anyway. Lines were still around the block in the urban (Democratic) areas because of the artificial shortage of voting machines that mysteriously developed in any precinct likely to vote Democratic.
// posted by RBR
Jet lag is jet lag, whether west or east. I find the DST change is, for lack of a better word, discombobulating. I can't be alone in this.
// posted by LTG
It is fascinating that DST is being pushed as an energy saving device! I would be amazed if it makes any difference... we shall see. Apparently, Americans are all guinea pigs in this one.
A summary of the DST changes can be found here. DST will begin earlier as well. We were already out of synch with Europe as to when we began DST, and now we will be out of synch as to when we end it. It needs to be worldwide.
My favorite wrinkle is that, since the Southern hemisphere also does DST, but the other way, the time difference between the US and Australia shifts by two hours.
If you really want to see why DST is in desperate need of reform, check out this table. No wonder nobody really knows what time it is :-)
The bit I love about DST with Australia is the fact that not all the states/territories have it, and those that do don't all change at the same time, meaning that the number of different timezones in operation in Australia at any one time changes throughout the year. Oh, and I like the fact that Adelaide is just half an hour behind Melbourne - try explaining that one to confused people back in the UK :-)
I also saw some interesting arguments against having DST (from some of the Aus states that don't have it, but are thinking about it), including the 'facts' that it apparently causes both cancer and divorce...
// posted by Pombat
If you like Australia, you'd LOVE Indiana, the Hoosier State! Indiana (a relatively small state on the boundary between the Central Time Zone and the Eastern Time Zone) allowed each county to chose which time zone to be in and whether or not to observe DST. Most chose to be on Eastern time but not observe DST. The result was that most the state effectively switched back and forth from being the same time as Illinois and the same time as Ohio.
When I was a kid in Indiana we never had to spring forward or fall back but the TV schedules got all screwed up. One morning the TV schedules would effectively switch from the Central Time Zone schedule where the nightly news comes on at 5pm and prime time startes at 7pm to the Eastern Time Zone where news is at 6 and prime time starts at 8pm. One fine weekend you'd wake up an hour late for Bugs Bunny reruns or something! Very annoying.
// posted by RBR
I grew up in a place without DST, and it was just fine, thank you. The ebb and flow of the seasons was actually observable - we didn't jerk back and forth twice a year. Sure, summer nights weren't light till 9pm, but we lived in Arizona - the sooner the sun went down the nicer it would get.
// posted by LTG
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