I see this come up a lot in discussions about voting in America. Postal votes disproportionately go to Democrats, hence the Democrats want to expand postal voting while Republicans want to restrict it (and insist there is totally a bunch of fraud going on).

I’ve googled with a few search engines and haven’t found a convincing reason. Lots of evidence that the skew is real, but no explanation as to why. Indeed, if one just looks at demographics, one would expect postal voting to benefit Republicans by facilitating votes from people in the countryside who live far away from voting centers.

So what actually gives?

  • jacksilver@lemmy.world
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    12 days ago

    Except when you add in the element of access to voting. Voting in-person on a work day isn’t necessarily feasible for the average American. By enforcing in-person voting you disenfranchise the groups that are more heavily democratic (younger, working, lower/middle class).

    • Jack_Burton@lemmy.ca
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      11 days ago

      Really? In Canada it’s law to allow employees time during the work day to go vote. That’s not the case in the US?

      • jacksilver@lemmy.world
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        11 days ago

        It’s state by state whether it’s required and/or paid time off. Additionally, just because something is in the law doesn’t mean every employer is good about it.

        • Jack_Burton@lemmy.ca
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          11 days ago

          That’s nuts. I hope Americans can pull up from this nosedive, even if the time to get back flying is over and all they can get is a controlled crash.