When I substituted for Jay Weber Thursday on Newstalk 1130 WISN, I devoted some time to a proposal by state Representative Josh Zepnick (D-Milwaukee).
Zepnick essentially wants to declare Election Day a holiday. In other words, everybody gets the day off to afford people time to vote.
Let's back up a bit.
I'll bet you didn't know that current law in Wisconsin states every employer, including the state and local governments, must grant to its employees at least three successive hours off work on Election Day for the purpose of permitting the employees to vote. To take advantage of this right, an employee must provide notice to his or her employer no later than the day before Election Day, and the employer may designate the time at which the employee is permitted to take off work. No penalty may be enforced against an employee for exercising this right, except that an employee is not entitled to be paid for time not worked.
So right now, if you can make the arrangement with your boss, you can leave work at noon on Election Day, go vote, and not have to be back at work by 3:00 pm. That seems totally unnecessary. Who needs three hours to vote? Callers to my program on WISN Thursday said the longest it ever took them to vote, even at the busiest of Presidential elections, was 45 minutes.
Representative Zepnick wants to increase the successive hours an employer must give to an employee to vote from three to eight. In effect, Election Day would be a day off.
There's more.
On elections in November in even-numbered years, Zepnick wants to close state offices, giving state workers a paid holiday. That would bring the total number of state holidays to 10.
There are so many things wrong with this goofy idea:
1) No one needs a whole day off to vote. If Zepnick is so serious about sufficient time to cast a ballot, why doesn't he suggest election day be held on a Saturday?
2) Current law, while questionable, is more than accommodating. You've got three hours to vote, then get back to work.
3) Most people can juggle work, kids, and family and find time to vote either before or after work, or during a lunch break. The majority of voters do not take advantage of the current law allowing them three hours away from their jobs.
4) Zepnick's idea would be unfair to businesses. He'd shut down the state economy. Brilliant.
5) Do state employees really need another paid holiday? Is it any wonder people hate the government.
6) Some callers to my WISN program hinted that part of the motivation behind this proposal is to give more voters more time to engage in voter fraud.
Not a single caller to WISN during the hour we talked about this proposal was in favor.
The political reality is that this proposal is DOA in the Legislature. Zepnick is an Assembly Democrat. Assembly Democrats are mired in the minority of that house in the Legislature. The odds of the Zepnick bill even getting a hearing are extremely slim.
Then what's the big deal, Kevin?
There is a larger issue. In November, Republicans had their hats handed to them, their clocks cleaned, whatever cliché you want to use. Jim Doyle kept the Governor's mansion. Democrats took control of the state Senate. And Democrats, while still in the minority in the state Assembly, did make some gains.
Democrats, as a result of the November results, feel emboldened. They wanted some power and they got it. But what are they doing with it? I've yet to see significant legislation or any concrete ideas being proposed by that party since November.
Does Zepnick support reducing spending, a property tax freeze, a photo ID requirement to vote?
I'm afraid the Zepnick election holiday bill is just the beginning of the types of silly legislation we'll witness during this legislative session in Madison.
THE VOTE IS NO APRIL 3
