Read more: The evolution of American voting rights in 242 years shows how far we've come and how far we still have to go. Countries like Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Costa Rica, and Mexico also showed high voter turnout rates by having holidays. Examine this opinion article from Evil HR Lady Suzanne Lucas on why election day should not be a national holiday. Why not make Election Day a national holiday? - CBS News $4+ Billion Cost To Give Federal Employees A New Paid Holiday - Forbes What other improvements could be made to voting and Election Day? WASHINGTON, June 24 (Reuters) - Election Day should be a holiday for workers in the United States, President Joe Biden said on Thursday. Democracy on the ballot will the remaining election deniers succeed? Granderson: Why aren't Democrats making election day a state holiday In-person polls open Sunday at 12:01am, close Saturday at 11:59pm. Senator Bernie Sanders has certainly tried heintroducedthe "Democracy Day Act" in 2018, which proposed making Election Day a federal holiday. 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. American election laws have been reformed before with minimal impact on voter turnout which remains low compared to other democracies around the world. [8], Among registered voters in the 2016 US presidential election, being too busy or having a conflicting schedule was the third-highest reason cited for not voting, accounting for 14% of registered voters who did not cast a vote (about 2.7 million people). While these provisions represent major steps in the right direction, they are not enough. With just about six in 10 voters turning out to vote in the U.S., some civil rights advocates are arguing that it's about time to give Americans the day off to vote. To look through the stats for voter turnout for other countries, you can visit the website for the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA) and explore the data. Access your favorite topics in a personalized feed while you're on the go. Most others are not so recent, but still not so old: Taiwan's, for example, goes back to a 1911 uprising. [8], In the 2016 presidential election, 55.7% of the American voting-age population cast a ballot. 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. Runoffs take place on the last Sunday of the same October. Last week his office released a list of voting rights provisions he would support. And some countries, like Australia, require people to vote by subjecting those who don't to a minor fine equivalent to a traffic ticket. [2] Sundays were for rest and worship, and on Wednesdays farmers typically sold their crops at the market, making Tuesdays the best day of the week. Newsela | Should Election Day become a national holiday? The ideal solution is simple: Congress should make Election Day a national holiday, or move Election Day to the weekend. 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 in the US voted during the 2016 presidential election. 2. Election Day in the United States of America is the Tuesday following the first Monday in November. It is set by statute as "the Tuesday next after the first Monday in the month of November.". Consider, for example, the national days of France and Germany: the former marks the French revolution, in 1789, and the latter marks the German reunification in 1990. House Democrats introduced their first piece of legislation in the new Congress this week, an anti-corruption bill that proposes making Election Day a federal holiday and encourages . "Voting is a fundamental right,. First published on October 26, 2020 / 10:57 AM. Should the United States Use the Electoral College in Presidential Elections? 26K views, 1.2K likes, 65 loves, 454 comments, 23 shares, Facebook Watch Videos from Citizen TV Kenya: #FridayNight Push for the position and policies you support by writing US national senators and representatives. These changes would send the message that voting is not a privilege to be bought with job security and time to spare, but rather an essential responsibility every person ought to undertake. List two to three ways. It would give people time to vote. February 26, 2023, 5:06 AM. ], ProCon.org, "Election Day National Holiday Top 3 Pros and Cons,", ProCon.org, "Election Day National Holiday Top 3 Pros and Cons. 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 so, how? 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). Change often comes slowly, subtly. 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. Is Election Day a federal holiday? | The US Sun Establishing Election Day as a holiday, taken together with the pending federal voting rights reforms, would go a long way towards stabilizing democracy and ensuring basic democratic rights. 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. But some think it should be. [14][35] In Australia, where voting is mandatory, elections are celebrated with parties and barbeques nationwide, resulting in turnout rates around 90%. In Estonia, a national ID card (required for every citizen in the country) can be used to vote remotely. Mail-in voting starts 1 month before polls open. For starters, the United States is rather unique in that it schedules its election day on a weekday, let alone a Tuesday. Four more states only provide time off for biennial, even-year elections: Delaware, Louisiana, Michigan and New Hampshire. First Sunday of July until 2018. We're familiar with how voting works in the U.S.when we vote, how we vote, who we vote forbut do you know what voting is like in other countries around the world? For example, in Ecuador, only literate citizens between 18 and 65 are required to vote; those over 65 or who are not literateare not required. Most of these 19 states' policies only cover general elections, though. Election Day is already a holiday for state employees in more than a dozen states including Kentucky, Michigan, and New York. Some countries, about 27 of them, make voting compulsory. Pro/Con Arguments | Discussion Questions | Take Action | Sources | More Debates, Election Day in the United States has occurred on the Tuesday following the first Monday in November ever since President John Tyler signed an 1845 law establishing a specific voting day for the entire country. [1] The decision was made taking into account farmers, a large portion of the voting constituency at the time, who would not have been able to travel to polling places in winter months or during planting or harvest times. Some countries, about 27 of them,make voting compulsory. 2 men found drugged after leaving NYC gay bars were killed, medical examiner says, Battleground Tracker: Tight race in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Lindsey Graham appears before Georgia grand jury, House Jan. 6 committee is having conversations with Justice Department, Georgia grand jury investigating Trump wants testimony from Giuliani, Graham, Trump election interference grand jury to hear from Raffensperger, DHS IG says Wolf changed intel report on Russian interference in 2020. Passing voting rights reform will be a crucial component of this response, as would making Election Day a national holiday. He thinks the increased options afforded by early and mail-in voting could be undermined by making Election Day a holiday, creating "a solution in search of a problem.". It's Time to Make Election Day a National Holiday (Once - HuffPost That too is a reminder as to how new many of the ideas from that century, such as full enfranchisement and national self-determination, really are. An additional day off school would prove to be problematic for individuals who may not have other readily accessible forms of childcare. [24], People who have already suffered significant disenfranchisement, such as women and people of color, are more likely to be working those low-income jobs that wouldnt get the time off to vote even on a national holiday. Some businesses may close, but their hourly paid employees will either have to use a PTO day or not get paid.. Should People Who Have Completed Felony Sentences Be Allowed to Vote? Would Making Election Day a Federal Holiday Boost U.S. Voter Turnout [25], According to the AFL-CIO, 30 states require employers to allow employees time off for voting. Interestingly, 27 of the 36 countries that are members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (made up largely of advanced democracies) conduct their national elections on the weekend.