I’m pretty sure Parkay is on the right path with the theory that the law banning alcohol sales while polls are open is to prevent vote buying with booze.

I can’t cite a source off top of my head, but I’m sure I’ve read something in American history where votes were bought with free beer or other alcohol.

They just can’t sell, furnish, or loan alcohol

surely you only ever hire booze anyway!

there is something special about original documents, isn’t there?

I won’t boats about my behind the scenes tour of the British Museum “Oh that 1000 year old sword I got to handle”…

Many of the bars where I’m from would likely still be open if they couldn’t sell alcohol. Many would still make money from food and non-alcohol drink sales. One bar in particular has the best wings in town. I have only sat and got a drink from it one time, but have ordered many wings.

Also, a lot of the bars in this area have illegal gambling with the poker machines. You put in money, and if you win the bar pays out. The bar owner splits the revenue of the machine with the gaming company that puts the machine in the bar. These poker machines alone would likely be reason enough to keep the bar open.

yes, there is something special about original documents, isn’t there?  Here in Vienna, if you have a good enough reason, you can go to the Nationalbibliothek and be handed, say, a fourteenth-century manuscript of Minnelieder.  For me as a medieval musician, it’s an amazing feeling to hold a piece of music written seven hundred years ago, and sing it (softly, of course: you’re in a library after all…)

That is soooo uber-cool.  And I’m envious.  I’m not a musician by any stretch, but I can certainly understand the sentiment.  Just seeing a score edited in Beethoven’s own hand at the British Library was one heck of a charge—and that manuscript was maybe 200 years old.  Among many other similar happy moments there—that stuff’s like candy for me.  I envy your proximity to such treasures.

Webs wrote
Except no bars are being closed. They just can’t sell, furnish, or loan alcohol

Which is the whole point of a bar, to sell alcohol. No sales equals no reason to be open. No argument from me that it’s stupid but it is the law for now and that’s what we have to go by.

1) closing the bars increases the likelyhood of citizens going to the polls to vote.

Except no bars are being closed. They just can’t sell, furnish, or loan alcohol.

2) alcohol could be used as payment for vote buying.

So could money, tobacco, and many other things. But banning alcohol on a voting day isn’t going to stop much. I bet the only thing it does is increase sales of alcohol before and after that day.

not being involved in a duel with deadly weapons is also a big part of the oath taken by the governor elect when he/she is sworn into office.

It’s interesting to hear about the silly things states have. Thanks parkay.

it sounds stupid but it is a very old law.

Which is where most of the stupid laws come from. Some person many years back thought it would be a good idea to legislate x, where x is something that pisses them off. It gets written into law and over time loses its purpose.

Webs wrote:
Hmm, I’m not sure I understand the reasoning behind that law. Then again I’m not sure I would be able to comprehend the reasoning behind many state laws.

i have two guesses on that matter.

1) closing the bars increases the likelyhood of citizens going to the polls to vote.

2) alcohol could be used as payment for vote buying.

i tend to believe that #2 is the more likely reason.

fyi, here in lexington, it is illegal to have an ice cream cone in your back pocket. it sounds stupid but it is a very old law. apparently, horses like ice cream and you can get a horse to follow you to someplace where you can steal it in private.

Bastich wrote:
here in Kentucky the Peace Officer Oath of Office makes you promise you’ve never been in or helped with a duel!

not being involved in a duel with deadly weapons is also a big part of the oath taken by the governor elect when he/she is sworn into office.

Kentucky Constitution of 1850, the governor’s oath of office

“ I do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of this Commonwealth, and be faithful and true to the Commonwealth of Kentucky so long as I continue to be a citizen thereof, and that I will faithfully execute, to the best of my ability, the office of Governor according to law; and I do further solemnly swear that since the adoption of the present Constitution, I, being a citizen of this state, have not fought a duel with deadly weapons within this state, nor out of it, nor have I sent or accepted a challenge to fight a duel with deadly weapons, nor have I acted as second in carrying a challenge, nor aided or assisted any person thus offending, so help me God.”

Hmm, I’m not sure I understand the reasoning behind that law. Then again I’m not sure I would be able to comprehend the reasoning behind many state laws.

Here’s a mind warper for you then, here in Kentucky the Peace Officer Oath of Office makes you promise you’ve never been in or helped with a duel! Before anyone calls bullshit I worked in a county lock-up for a year as a Deputy and had to take that very oath.

Yes, I cracked up in case anyone is wondering.

cubiclegrrl- yes, there is something special about original documents, isn’t there?  Here in Vienna, if you have a good enough reason, you can go to the Nationalbibliothek and be handed, say, a fourteenth-century manuscript of Minnelieder.  For me as a medieval musician, it’s an amazing feeling to hold a piece of music written seven hundred years ago, and sing it (softly, of course: you’re in a library after all…)

Hmm, I’m not sure I understand the reasoning behind that law. Then again I’m not sure I would be able to comprehend the reasoning behind many state laws.