It's a reminder of turmoil of the last century a very short span in historical terms and how deeply its events influence the world today. According to the Pew Research Center, of the thirty-six nations in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the U.S. is one of nine that votes on a week day, and one of seven that doesn't designate election day a national holiday. Delaware Hawaii Kentucky Louisiana Montana New Jersey New York Ohio Puerto Rico Virginia West Virginia While Tuesdays have been custom for elections in the United States, Sunday is the day of. - Vincent Hutchings, a University of Michigan political science professor, - Gil Troy, American presidential historian, Whether accurate or not, elected officials likely think that making it easier to vote would advantage one party traditionally it is believed to help the Democrats at the, Joaquin Corbalan / EyeEm via Getty Images, as travel and communication improved in the 19th century, being too busy or having a conflicting schedule, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, substantially increase the cost of running elections, move that would make it easier for Americans to vote, The types of workers least likely to reap the benefits. [10][11]] Unlike Singapore, South Korea and Israel, Canada has not declared election days as public holidays. And the empire has been pretty consistently breaking apart over the last half century Scotland is maybe next so it's not like there is a national unification to celebrate. 3. A large Democratic voting rights bill that would have made Election Day a national holiday collapsed in the Senate this year when two senators refused to join their own party in changing. It is the day when popular ballots are held to select public officials. "We already know how to make voting convenient to voters that's by offering them options, like making an election season rather than election day," he said. All this despite the fact that these types of restrictions have typically been considered illegal under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, which requires that elections be equally open to all people. High turnout means that people are successfully exercising their rights-a good in itselfbut it also ensures the continuing health of majority rule. 4) The outliers are few but tell you a lot about those countries. In an interview published Thursday, President Obama endorsed the idea of holding U.S. federal elections on weekends or national holidays. This article was published more than10 years ago. Updates? Voter turnout in the U.S. is generally quite low, trailing behind that of other developed democracies around the world, according to another Pew study. Below are the proper citations for this page according to four style manuals (in alphabetical order): the Modern Language Association Style Manual (MLA), the Chicago Manual of Style (Chicago), the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA), and Kate Turabian's A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations (Turabian). And. Consider this: Even if Election Day were moved to a weekend or turned into a national holiday, retail and service industry employees would still need to work. 12, 2019, Ceylan Pumphrey, "Do Businesses Have to Give Federal Holidays Like Presidents Day Off?, blogs.findlaw.com, Feb. 14, 2018, Department of Labor, "Holiday Pay, dol.gov (accessed Sep. 23, 2019), Peggy Emch, "Is Holiday Pay Required by Law?, timesheets.com, 2013, Fast Casual, "Study: Why Hourly Workers Forced to Work Multiple Jobs, fastcasual.com, Apr. Explore which countries have weekend voting with Pew Research. Here are the four things I found interesting about this once as I mapped it out: 1) Yes, most of the world was shaped by colonialism. Veterans Day typically is about one week after Election Day so this would involve little disruption in terms of job schedules and monthly routines. If Election Day were a national holiday, how would you ensure hourly and low-income workers would get a chance to vote? Could that ever happen in the U.S.? The Evolution of American Voting Rights in 242 Years Shows How Far Weve Come -- and How Far We Still Have to Go, businessinsider.com, Sep. 24, 2019, University of Houston Digital History, "Agriculture, digitalhistory.uh.edu (accessed Sep. 24, 2019), USDA, "Ag and Food Sectors and the Economy, ers.usda.gov, Sep. 20, 2019, Legal Information Institute, "5 U.S. Code 6103. Because the impact of a federal holiday is far-reaching, many states and workplaces would likely follow suit. Tuesday was selected because it was the most convenient. Vanita Gupta, CEO of the Leadership Conference on Human and Civil Rights, is working to increase voter participation and decrease voter disenfranchisement. 25, 2016, Chris Talgo, "Make Election Day a National Holiday? Vote.org CEO Andrea Hailey agrees. 3. In many other democracies around the world, national elections are held on the weekend or are a federal holiday. ProCon/Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc. What other improvements could be made to voting and Election Day? Because of the pandemic, more U.S. voters are exploring alternatives to voting on Election Day, such as early voting and mail-in voting. Right now, federal elections are always held on Tuesdays, because farmers in the 1840s needed multiple days to get to the . Like Perez, Becker thinks giving voters more time and opportunity to vote is the best approach. All rights reserved. To make Election Day a national holiday, it would take an act of Congress, and so far, no bills proposing such action have passed. OK, so why Tuesday? ], [Editors Note: The MLA citation style requires double spacing within entries. Thats not to say no one has tried. Some countries, including Belgium and Turkey, see such high voter turnout mainly because of their compulsory voting laws. Its hard to say. Think of things such as voter ID laws, lowering the voting age, and abolishing the Electoral College. (And in case youre curious, November was chosen as the month for similar reasons: It was after fall harvest was over but before the cold winter weather set in.). Turning Election Day into a national holiday would instill a sense of pride in all citizens, knowing they have the ability to cast a ballot regardless of work. Sunday: first Sunday of February for the President, Vice-President, and Legislative Assembly; second Sunday of February for municipal elections. Election Day in the United States of America is the Tuesday following the first Monday in November. There is a simple and straightforward solution: make Election Day a national holiday so that people have the time and freedom to vote without taking time off from work. [12], The idea that voting should be a celebration, not a chore is one argument for turning Election Day into a national holiday, according to Archon Fung, PhD, and Jane Mansbridge, PhD, professors at the Harvard Kennedy School. That's true, although the separate "National Day of Commemoration" occurs on the anniversary of the truce ending the Irish war of independence. Others have suggested making Veterans Day (Nov. 11), which is already a paid national holiday, Election Day. While these provisions represent major steps in the right direction, they are not enough. It would give people time to vote. While countries like Belgium, Sweden, and Turkey saw more than 80% of their estimated voting-age population cast votes in recent elections, less than 56% of the estimated voting-age population. On Sunday, Virginia Democratic Gov. Puerto Rico's voter turnout has gone as high as 80 . You are also agreeing to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Russia's national holiday only goes back to 1992, when the Russian Federation was founded. [4][5], The United States currently has 10 national holidays, including Memorial Day, Independence Day, and Christmas Day. Not only would making Election Day a federal holiday increase voter turnout among Americans, which is something that politicians and citizens in general complain about often, but it . Omissions? First Sunday of October. More people would vote if they had more time to cast their ballots Furthermore, celebrating our democracy publicly would send the message that we value each others citizenship as much as we value honoring past presidents. [13], Donald Green, PhD, Burgess Professor of Political Science at Columbia University, found that nonpartisan community parties celebrating Election Day in 2005, 2006, and 2016 increased voter participation between 2.6 percentage points and about 4 percentage points. "While this would not be a cure-all, it would indicate a national commitment to create a more vibrant democracy.". In theory, it seems that any move that would make it easier for Americans to vote would increase participation. By law, polling day is a public holiday if it falls on a weekday. Furthermore, making this small shift would celebrate the purpose and sacrifice of our fighting forces. As a holiday, that means several millions of people would have the day off from work or school, making it way . Litigation pending before the Supreme Court this term in Brnovich v. DNC, however, threatens to undermine this rule. According to Washington Post columnist Ruth Marcus, Australia adopted compulsory voting in 1924 after turnout there dropped to less than 60 percent in 1922. [18][19], Federal law doesnt require private employers to give employees paid federal holidays. a list of voting rights provisions he would support. For other uses, see. The U.S. is one of only nine member nations that have weekday voting. ", ProCon.org. Corrections? Indigenous Peoples Day is a local and state holiday in some parts of the country usually held on Columbus Day that celebrates the cultures of Native Americans. Theyare still considerably higher than in the United States, which typically sees about 65% on average turn out to vote for major elections. Yet, few of us, especially those who have worked on Capitol Hill, harbor . Top editors give you the stories you want delivered right to your inbox each weekday. A lot of people go to work, or they're in school during the weekday. For rest of the festival holidays the declaration . President Obama likes the idea of changing the way or the day Americans vote. Rupak De Chowdhuri/Reuters. I'll look into this some more and may change it on the map. But some think it should be. "Election Day should be a national holiday so that everyone has the time and opportunity to vote," Sanders' website reads. But it is not a federal holiday. Whether accurate or not, elected officials likely think that making it easier to vote would advantage one party traditionally it is believed to help the Democrats at the expense of the other party, the GOP, said Vincent Hutchings, a University of Michigan political science professor. In Estonia, a national ID card (required for every citizen in the country) can be used to vote remotely. First Sunday of July until 2018. These include national, state, and local government representatives at all levels up to the president. Saturday, but can be any day of the week, such as when a Saturday conflicts with a holiday. In some states where they don't have mail-in ballots, voting can take a lot of time out of the day. 1. Younger generations are also more likely to participate in political discussions online, which shows that a move towards digitizing the political and voting processes may not be too far off. Election Day - Tuesday, Nov. 8 - is a special day, with voters casting ballots across the country. ", "An overall look at Vietnam's election law", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Election_day&oldid=1136894393. In the 2016 presidential election, 14% of registered voters cited being too busy or having a conflicting schedule as the main reason they didnt cast their ballots, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of Census Bureau data.
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