Skip Navigation Understanding what happened in the Chicago mayoral race. Should election day be made a national holiday? | Britannica Common reasons for a certain day are the date on which a state or country achieved its independence, or the date of the country's patron saint day. Election Day is a US State Holiday observed on several states on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November every even-numbered year. Countries like France, Germany, and India all recognize Election Day as a national holiday or hold elections on the weekend in order to increase voter turnout. (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.). Updates? On Sunday, Virginia Democratic Gov. This is the day we cast ballots to select public officials from local to the national government. 4) The outliers are few but tell you a lot about those . Election Day as a holiday is something that exists in other countries, but not in most places in the U.S. It's an issue that comes up a lot, but never really gets much serious public debate. One major reason: It comes down to tradition, Troy said. Where is Election Day a holiday? - The Fulcrum Explore which countries have weekend voting with Pew Research. Election dates are determined by the General Elections Commission (Indonesian: Typically on a Friday, but precise date set by, Municipal, provincial, and regional elections take place on a Sunday, as do elections for the. Top editors give you the stories you want delivered right to your inbox each weekday. During the 2016 presidential election, less than 56% of the estimated voting-age population in the US voted. There is a "need to make voting more accessible, to make it more of a civic duty, to make sure that people don't have to choose between their job and their ability to cast the ballot are issues that are more prominent today than ever before," she told CBS News. 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. - Zkon o podmienkach vkonu volebnh", "The Effectiveness of Early Voting A Case Study of the Republic of Korea", "Ley Orgnica 5/1985, de 19 de junio, del Rgimen Electoral General", "Elections in Venezuela and Pennsylvania: Lessons in Democracy? Voting Around the World - Home | CultureReady Election Day in the United States of America is the Tuesday following the first Monday in November. Newsweek subscription offers > "For example, Australia typically has a turnout in the 90 percent or more range, and other nations such as Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Costa Rica and Mexico achieve. 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. National Holiday Act in India - Laws for Festival, Public Holidays Will the party listen to them on the issues? With Juneteenth now a national holiday, could Election Day and Runoffs take place on the last Sunday of the same October. This is partially due to the influence of Protestantism, which historically set restrictions on activities other than church-going during the Sabbath (usually considered as falling on a Sunday). That means the stock market will be open, and so will. Rose Marcario, CEO, stated, demonstrating your companys commitment to voting will reinforce how essential it is that every eligible voter shows up. as well as other partner offers and accept our. Explain your answers. In addition to honoring the sacrifices veterans have made, it would remind Americans that voting is a national duty, an obligation both to one another and to the nation; and it would strengthen American democratic political culture, by way of new rituals and traditions, Jill Lepore a Harvard professor of American history wrote in an essay for Politico. If you make election day a federal holiday, youll have all the people who work in these types of jobs still having to work, being inundated with customers who have the day off and they wont have child care because the schools will be closed, Suzanne Lucas, who previously worked in human resources, wrote in a piece for Inc.com. Is Election Day a federal holiday? Here's what is open, closed Tuesday While making Election Day a national holiday or moving it to the weekend would by no means be a cure-all, it could be used in conjunction with other strategies like automatic voter registration (nearly 87% of registered voters participated in the 2016 election), restoring voting rights for formerly incarcerated people and removing other barriers such as voter ID requirements and voter roll purges that often disenfranchise people of color. So, workers having a day off to vote wouldn't be a disruption to the economy, or anything a citizen of our country could deny would be worthwhile and smart thing to do. In many countries, general elections are always held on a Saturday or Sunday, to enable as many voters as possible to participate; while in other countries elections are always held on a weekday.However, some countries, or regions within a country, which hold elections on a weekday declare election day a public holiday. Why Election Day Isn't a National Holiday in the US - Business Insider Executive director and founder of the Center for Election Innovation & Research David Becker argues that increasing turnout is a nuanced problem that can't be fixed by declaring a holiday. Unlike Singapore, South Korea and Israel, Canada has not declared election days as public holidays. Thats not to say no one has tried. 2. Ralph Northam signed into law a measure that, among other things, makes Election Day a state holiday in the commonwealth. By law, polling day is a public holiday if it falls on a weekday. 1. 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. We are very proud that we are mentioned in the Bible. First published on October 26, 2020 / 10:57 AM. However, those numbers may be attributed to a combination of factors not solely because their elections occur on non-work days. 2. "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. A simple but effective change, however, could be made in election timing. Britain, after all, developed its political institutions pretty gradually, so there was no real "Bastille Day" moment that defines the modern nation. Elections are federal holidays in Singapore, which, when combined with mandatory voting, resulted in a voter turnout of 93.6% for the 2015 election of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. What if Election Day were a holiday? - USA TODAY Countries which permit absentee ballots, early ballots or postal votes to be cast by mail before the election avoid the problem altogether by enabling voters to vote on a day that is more convenient to them. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. "With the variety of challenges that election officials face, [making Election Day a holiday] is well down on the list of those things that need to be addressed," Becker said. Proponents say the Electoral College ensures everyone selects the president. According to Washington Post columnist Ruth Marcus, Australia adopted compulsory voting in 1924 after turnout there dropped to less than 60 percent in 1922. Roughly 138 million Americans voted in the 2016 presidential election, just 61.4% of the 214,109,360 million who were registered to vote, according to The U.S. Election Assistance Commission. 2020, Virginia. 3. Proper citation depends on your preferred or required style manual. While no state has proposed reinstating the literacy tests, poll taxes, and grandfather clauses that effectively ended the burst of African-American franchise during Reconstruction, todays efforts to disenfranchise minority voters are similarly unsubtle. Research has found that higher trust in the government and democratic process leads to greater voter turnout. List of national independence days - Wikipedia Elections to the Bundestag may be held on another public holiday. It worked. For other uses, see. Last week his office released a list of voting rights provisions he would support. Push for the position and policies you support by writing US national senators and representatives. As for Denmark, it has a national liberation day and some people celebrate international worker's day, but neither is a public 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. The U.S. is one of only nine member nations that have weekday voting. Portugal celebrates the 1580 death of celebrated national poet Luis de Camoes, Spain celebrates Columbus Day (yes, the holiday is a little controversial there as well, although not as much as in the U.S.), the Netherlands celebrates the queen's birthday but it still use her mother's birthday for the date and, in Greenland, the celebrate the longest day of the year. After all, what do our veterans fight for, if not for democracy itself? The types of workers least likely to reap the benefits of a federal holiday are those who already struggle to vote, Shineman noted. 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. On U.S. Election Day, A Look At How Others Vote : NPR Some countries, about 27 of them,make voting compulsory. Opponents say it allows only a few states to select the president. Is Election Day a federal holiday? | The US Sun But this arrangement began to raise concerns as travel and communication improved in the 19th century: Results from states that voted earlier could sway the outcome in states that voted later. 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. Canada's turnout is about the same as the United States', with an average of 68%, and though one canton in Switzerland has a compulsory voting law, for the country as a whole turnout is around 49%, one of the lowest rates in OECD countries. [25], According to the AFL-CIO, 30 states require employers to allow employees time off for voting. And it will, in turn, help strengthen the idea that businesses can and will come together for a worthy common purpose: protecting our democracy by empowering all American workers to be good citizens. [30], Solutions such as automatic voter registration, same-day registration, early voting, no-excuse absentee voting, restoring voting rights to former felons, improved civics education, and voter outreach would all improve voter participation more reliably than a national holiday. Election officials in various states have predicted historic levels of turnout in 2020, with a chance to reach the highest ever. In the US, Election Day is not a national holiday. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). They stated, Citizen Day would do more than give our democracy the honor that it deserves; it would help our democracy work better. In fact, in Estonia, the option tovoteonlineis becoming increasingly popular. #FridayNight | #FridayNight | By Citizen TV Kenya - Facebook In Thailand, one of the very few countries outside of Europe that was never formally colonized, the king's birthday is celebrated (don't insult him or you might go to jail, per the lese majeste laws). A Pew Research Center analysis finds that 27 of the 36 member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development hold their national elections on the weekend, . The earliest possible date that Election Day can fall on is November 2nd, and the latest possible date is November 8th. [8], In the 2016 presidential election, 55.7% of the American voting-age population cast a ballot. The bill has no cosponsors, but the concept was supported by every 2020 Democratic candidate for president, excluding Mike Bloomberg and now-nominee Joe Biden. These efforts challenge fundamental values of American democracy and constitute a serious threat to the one person, one vote principle. While some states have made Election Day a civic holiday (though it primarily applies to public workers) and most have laws that require companies to give employees some time off to vote, none of the legislative efforts to enact these changes on a national level have been successful. The ideal solution is simple: Congress should make Election Day a national holiday, or move Election Day to the weekend. The outliers are a tiny minority, and only two countries have no formal national day at all. Voters in more than one-third of the country enjoy some form of an Election Day holiday, according to RepresentUs. Modern life operates around the clock. If your thoughts have not changed, list two to three ways your better understanding of the other side of the issue now helps you better argue your position. Usually Wednesday. For starters, the United States is rather unique in that it schedules its election day on a weekday, let alone a Tuesday. Vote.org CEO Andrea Hailey agrees. Let us make it as easy as we can," Sanders told CBS News. Lessons in How to Hold Elections", "GE2015: First time Polling Day falls on a Friday, but not first time polls held on a weekday", "180/2014 Z.z. Georgias voter suppression bill is an assault on our democracy, Republicans in 48 states have introduced 389 bills, Tracking regulatory changes in the Biden era. For more information on how to vote, head over to our TurboVote module. a list of voting rights provisions he would support. Why Election Day is on a Tuesday in November in the U.S. | Pew Research Reformers will be far more successful adding a few days or options or opportunities than trying to undo Election Day.. And she thinks corporate America has been leading the way, pointing out several businesses, including Walmart and Coca-Cola, that have announced paid time off and other accommodations to make voting easier for employees on November 3. A number of bills like the Weekend Voting Act have been proposed in Congress over the years, often by Democrats. A National Day is a date for a country to celebrate its nationhood. "While this would not be a cure-all, it would indicate a national commitment to create a more vibrant democracy.". The answer dates back to 1845, when Congress passed a law declaring that federal elections would be held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November. About 54 percent of eligible voters cast their ballots in the 2012 presidential contest between Barack Obama and Republican Mitt Romney, according to the Pew Research Center.
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