Election Night Projections
“The second Tuesday after the first Monday in November” is not to be found in the U.S. Constitution as the day designated to elect people to national or local office. The Constitution merely assigns the selection of an election day to the various states.
A simple act of Congress would be sufficient to make it possible for the states in the various Western time zones to register their votes without having been told, sometimes hours before the people in those states have cast their ballots, that the results already are known.
The solution is simplicity itself. Enact legislation declaring a Saturday and a Sunday (any weekend in November) voting days. On Saturday, states in the Mountain and Pacific time zones would vote. The ballots would be sealed by the various registrars of voters and withheld from public scrutiny. On Sunday, the rest of the nation, the Eastern half, would vote.
When the polls in the East and Middle West have closed, all votes--East and West--would be tallied at the same time, and the results made known to the whole nation.
ALVIN SAPINSLEY
Sherman Oaks
Get the L.A. Times Politics newsletter
Deeply reported insights into legislation, politics and policy from Sacramento, Washington and beyond. In your inbox three times per week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
