Is our Electorate Sick?

I wonder. If Election Day was a holiday would more people cast a ballot? I'm not sure but in some states, including Delaware, Hawaii, Kentucky, Montana, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, and West Virginia Election Day is a civic holiday. Some other states require that workers be permitted to take time off from employment without loss of pay. California Elections Code Section 14000 provides that employees otherwise unable to vote must be allowed two hours off with pay, at the beginning or end of a shift.

Southern states on the other hand, do everything conceivable to keep "certain type of people" from voting.  Florida has become the leader in voter suppression, resulting in a unhealthy and sickly electorate.  How is it possible to diagnose a sickly electorate?  It doesn't require much. The first to be hardest hit are former felons.  These men and women having served their time, imprisoned and now released, are left out of the democratic process. In essence they are taxed without representation.  They're denied the right to vote; access to proper healthcare; workforce reintegration, leaving them to decay in a society which thinks of them as vermin. This creates a higher rate of recidivism. Leaving this sector of the population vulnerable to disease, despair and all to often, hunger.

Since Gore vs. Bush,  Florida is beholden to no one.  Its Governors are using the guise of purging "non-citizens" from voter rosters to suppress the "Latino" vote who generally vote for Democrats.  Florida's Republican government portray Latinos as leaches to our healthcare system and other social services.  That is simply a blatant lie! A scare tactic to keep Latinos "in there place," by using healthcare as an agent of fear to keep them from registering to vote. 

These tactics have become the norm for Florida.  Suffrage for Latinos, Women,  Former-Felons.... is an ideal setting for a political battle jeopardizing the health of the State, its inhabitants and Constitution.

source: 
www.businessweek.com/debateroom/archives/2008/10/election_day_should_be_a_holiday.html