S.20.2-12: Daylight Savings Time Amendment 2.0 (Passed)

[tmthforu94]

Much thanks to Delegate Spark for introducing this. The People petitioned for this to be reconsidered, the petition received widespread support from leaders of all sides. This is a common-sense amendment that will align regional elections with federal ones. I urge the Chamber to pass this.

If any Delegate has a reason to oppose this, hopefully this time they will voice that during the debate, so it can be properly discussed and their reasoning considered.

[tmthforu94]

I feel like that argument would best be made at the federal level, no? This amendment isn't about the pros and cons of DST, it is simply about putting us in alignment with federal elections. If those got changed, I would want ours to follow suit. Perhaps remove all references of timezones in the constitution completely and have it in a regional election act so it can be easier amendment, but that would require a sizeable amount of work (a good long-term goal for the region, though).

[tmthforu94]

To me it is an unnecessary hassle that confuses voters - typically speaking, when GOTV messages are sent, links are provided for regional and federal elections when they are the same weekend. If I were a voter and was being explained that "you have to vote by this time for the federal election and this time for the regional election"...well, to me it just seems like a hassle.

Just imagine going to a voting booth in real life and being told "Sorry, you can vote in the state election, but the national election (hasn't started yet/has already ended)." That is essentially what the status quo does. A nice idea on extending to 73 hours, though I'd still argue I don't like us deviating too strongly from federal/other regions on this type of thing. I'm all for uniqueness but not on this.

Hopefully IRL DST is either made permanent or abolished soon. Not a fan of the changes!!!