Use common sense to address voting, bottle bill

Common sense is not political. At least it shouldn't be when it comes to early voting and Iowa's bottle bill.

Election Day is for voting. Dragging it out 40 days (now 29 days) before for advanced voting and a week afterward to count all the votes is ridiculous. We want to know who won ASAP.

OK, so you can't make it to the polls on Election Day. Request an absentee ballot in advance and make sure it's returned before the polls close. Simple. Twenty days in advance is plenty of time. Still think you can't get it done? Put away the smartphone, turn off TV, get off Facebook for one hour and do your patriotic duty. What's your priority?

The bottle bill has helped keep our landscape clean. The deposit has been a nickel per container since inception more than 40 years ago. Raise it to a dime. Give retailers a bigger cut. Every business that sells these beverages should have to accept empties.

Requiring consumers to haul empty containers up to 20 miles to a recycling center is counterintuitive. They won't do it. Under this proposal people certainly won't take the time to recycle if they can't find the time to vote.

Dave Rasdal

Cedar Rapids