The decision to switch to Monday instead of the traditional Friday for this election is not without consequences. For one thing , schools will be open normally on Tuesday, so those serving as polling stations probably will have some more cleaning up and
furniture rearranging to do than usual the next morning in at least one classroom.
Moreover, the final results are hardly ever in before midnight and residents tended to stay up and await them also because many are off on Saturdays and there is no school either. This means there could be some sleepy employees, including teachers but also students, walking around come September 27.
The reason given for the change was that Seventh-Day Adventist (SDA) Church members don’t venture out after sundown on Fridays, which limits their opportunity to vote. It seemed like a nice gesture towards this group of citizens at the time, but also raised questions.
After all, employers are supposed to give their personnel who work during the day several hours to exercise their democratic right. In addition, it doesn’t actually get dark until close to 6:30pm, while the polls close at 8:00pm.
There could also be advantages, such as people drinking less than is normally the case, simply because they have to work and/or bring the children to school the next day. It must be said, however, that alcohol consumption on Election Day is apparently not considered as big a problem as in the past, because the so-called “dry law” has no longer been applied already for years.
It will be interesting to see the turnout, although the impact of using another weekday for the election still won’t become clear anyway. Perhaps it would therefore be a good idea to seek feedback from the public on the issue afterward, to help determine how best to continue in the future.
