[1], An election day usually culminates in an election night when the results of the election are tallied and winners are announced.[2]. Like Perez, Becker thinks giving voters more time and opportunity to vote is the best approach. Election Day in the United States is the annual day for general elections of federal public officials.It is statutorily set by the U.S. government as "the Tuesday next after the first Monday in November", i.e. And some countries, like Australia, require people to vote by subjecting those who don't to a minor fine equivalent to a traffic ticket. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. Consider the potential benefits and difficulties of changing election day. Opponents say kids arent mature enough to vote. Britain, after all, developed its political institutions pretty gradually, so there was no real "Bastille Day" moment that defines the modern nation. It would also blunt the impact of many of these baldly anti-democratic movesopening the doors to the house as Republicans attempt to shut the windows. From 2021, the first Sunday of June. Other countries take heroic efforts to ensure that people can vote if they desire. In-person polls open Sunday at 12:01am, close Saturday at 11:59pm. That means the stock market will be open, and so will. Litigation pending before the Supreme Court this term in Brnovich v. DNC, however, threatens to undermine this rule. [18][19], Federal law doesnt require private employers to give employees paid federal holidays. Instead, lawmakers could simply move nearby Veterans Day to Election Day, emphasizing that voting is both a service to the country and a celebration of the rights and freedoms for which our servicemembers fight. [26] Caravanas are joyful, noisy parades of cars festooned with flags and other decorations that stream through Puerto Ricos streets ahead of an election and are credited with the islands over 80% voter turnout. Last week his office released a list of voting rights provisions he would support. Part of HuffPost Home & Living. There are some exceptions; as Wednesday was not covered by the available dates, the Netherlands holds elections on Thursday, while Denmark holds elections on Sunday. Research has found that higher trust in the government and democratic process leads to greater voter turnout. Whether election day should be made a national holiday is debated. 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. [31] Same-day registration boosts turnout by 5%, and universal implementation of it would have added as many as 4.8 million voters in the 2016 election, according to Danielle Root, JD, and Liz Kennedy, JD, from the Center for American Progress. Explain your answer. Estonia is the only country to fully adopt online voting, but other countries, such as Australia, Canada, and Norway, have looked into pursuing it as an option in the future. [3] In 1800, 83% of the American labor force was agrarian, but today only 11% of total US employment is agriculture-related. Why Election Day is Held on a Tuesday in November in the U.S. A Boatload of Ballots: Midterm Voter Turnout Hit 50-Year High, Estonia's i-voting: more secure, more popular, Macedonia referendum: Low voter turnout puts country's name change at risk, What Voting and Elections Look Like Around the World, X Marks the Choice: Voting Methods around the World, Defense Language and National Security Education Office. The U.S. ranks 26th out of 32 for voter among Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development countries. And even if it were a federal holiday, that wouldn't ensure that all voting-age Americans would have the day off. 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. The U.S. is one of only nine member nations that have weekday voting. ProCon/Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc. This page was last edited on 1 February 2023, at 18:43. As a holiday, that means several millions of people would have the day off from work or school, making it way . Last Tuesday was election day in the United States, and this year we voted in the midterm elections. He concluded that having an election holiday, by itself, is not an effective strategy to increase voter turnout. [34], Automatic voter registration, by contrast, could register an additional 22 million people and create 7.9 million new voters nationwide within a year. Such a change would mostly benefit white-collar workers instead of the lower-income workers its designed to help. 26K views, 1.2K likes, 65 loves, 454 comments, 23 shares, Facebook Watch Videos from Citizen TV Kenya: #FridayNight Vote.org CEO Andrea Hailey agrees. 325 N. LaSalle Street, Suite 200 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. As for Denmark, it has a national liberation day and some people celebrate international worker's day, but neither is a public holiday. However, some countries, or regions within a country, which hold elections on a weekday declare election day a public holiday. 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. [4][5], The United States currently has 10 national holidays, including Memorial Day, Independence Day, and Christmas Day. Tuesday is Election Day, but only in some parts of the country will voters get the day off to cast their ballots. In fact, in Estonia, the option tovoteonlineis becoming increasingly popular. 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. Election day is a national holiday. For more on the debate about making election day a national holiday, visit ProCon.org. The ideal solution is simple: Congress should make Election Day a national holiday, or move Election Day to the weekend. I'll look into this some more and may change it on the map. But while experts say such a scheme is unlikely to fly in the US, making it easier for people to vote would appear to be a step in the right direction. Senator Bernie Sanders has certainly tried heintroducedthe "Democracy Day Act" in 2018, which proposed making Election Day a federal holiday. Georgia grassroots groups helped Biden win. Other countries may only require it of certain people, and otherwise make it voluntary for others. 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. ProCon.org. Incidentally, Australia routinely reaches more than 90 percent voter turnout, compared to the United States, where average voter turnout in presidential elections since 1965 has been only 54%. Should Election Day be a national holiday? [ 18][ 19] Con 1 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. [1], Over time, voting rights expanded from only white, male landowners age 21 and older to include women and people of color, as well as citizens age 18 and up, resulting in a dramatic increase in the voting-eligible population and a shift in voter demographics. 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? 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. 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. "We should be making it easier for people to vote, not harder. Virginia joined these states in April this year. Think about it. But some election analysts told CBS News that making Election Day a holiday is not a way to make voting easier. 2. 5. In the United States, it varies from state to state and even county to county, so the idea that one entire country might use the same voting method is actually pretty unique to Americans! In Switzerland, only one canton (or member state) requires voting; it is voluntary all other cantons of the country. 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. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). Pew also found that certain issues motivate voters more than others: "health care, poverty and education are the top motivators for political engagement." Election Day is already a holiday for state employees in more than a dozen states including Kentucky, Michigan, and New York. 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). In the 2016 presidential election, 60% of the eligible voting population vast a vote; this year, a staggering 47.5%participated in the midterms, compared to 37% in 2014 and 41% in 2010, the years of other midterm elections. South Korea and Israel hold theirs during the week, but have made the day a federal holiday. You are also agreeing to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. 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. Maybe that could give us some hint as to the frequent foreign sensitivities and accusations, right or wrong, about Western foreign policy echoing old colonial practices. So, focusing voting efforts to one day doesn't do enough to accommodate everyone, Becker argues. Some say a holiday would increase voter turnout by enabling more people to vote while celebrating democracy. 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. It would give people time to vote. Some countries, about 27 of them, make voting compulsory. 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. Four more states only provide time off for biennial, even-year elections: Delaware, Louisiana, Michigan and New Hampshire. Even people youd expect to know, like politicians, have been stumped by this very question. 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. Sunday: first Sunday of February for the President, Vice-President, and Legislative Assembly; second Sunday of February for municipal elections. Thats not to say no one has tried. In an interview published Thursday, President Obama endorsed the idea of holding U.S. federal elections on weekends or national holidays. But while . [27], Companies including Abercrombie & Fitch Co., Farmers Insurance, Kaiser Permanente, Patagonia, and Walmart have joined Make Time to Vote campaign, which encourages employers to provide paid time off, schedule no meetings on Election Day, and give information on mail-in ballots and early voting. It worked. 1, which adds a new paid holiday for federal employees every other year. Some businesses may close, but their hourly paid employees will either have to use a PTO day or not get paid.. The name change required at least 50% voter participation, and opponents to the name change advocated not voting at all rather than voting against the measure. [31]. 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. 4) The outliers are few but tell you a lot about those . That's true, although the separate "National Day of Commemoration" occurs on the anniversary of the truce ending the Irish war of independence. Should People Who Have Completed Felony Sentences Be Allowed to Vote? Democracy on the ballot will the remaining election deniers succeed? Fourth Sunday of October immediately before the end of the current mandates. It is very, very hard to change core American traditions which Americans see not only as propping up their democracy but perpetuating its legitimacy, he said. ", "National Electoral Code Article 53 and 148", Report of the 2014 National Lawyers Guild Bolivian Election Observation Delegation, Voting hours for elections in EU Member States, "The Parliamentary Electoral System in Denmark", Consultation Report on Review of Electoral Arrangements, "India Elects 2019: The World's Largest Election, Explained", "Six Nations match at the centre of row over election date - Independent.ie", "With full term possible, Netanyahu may outlast Ben-Gurion (and Obama)", Confessionalism and Electoral Reform in Lebanon, "Voters reminded not to reveal voting intention at Sunday's polling", "Malaysia's election on a Wednesday favors PM, opposition says", "Elections in Mexico and the US: Comparisons and contrasts", "Law on Election of Councillors and Members of Parliament", "Election Days General Elections 1853-2011", "The main features of the Norwegian electoral system", "Tribunal Electoral de Panam convoca a elecciones generales de 2024", "Peru Can Give U.S. 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. After all, what do our veterans fight for, if not for democracy itself? Delaware, Hawaii, Kentucky, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, Rhode Island and New York have also made Election Day into a state holiday. A National Day is a date for a country to celebrate its nationhood. [9], Former Editor-in-Chief of the Northwestern University Law Review, Beau C. Tremitiere, JD, stated, The demands of school and work schedules keep millions of Americans, especially those with children or long commutes, from ever getting to their polling stations The ideal solution is simple: Congress should make Election Day a national holiday, or move Election Day to the weekend. [10] A holiday would allow more citizens volunteer at polling places or drive the elderly to vote, and make a difference in states where long lines at the polls keep voters waiting for hours. Explore which countries have weekend voting with Pew Research. One major reason: It comes down to tradition, Troy said. 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. 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. by country by date The Freedom to Vote Act would make Election Day a national holiday. In 2018, a Pewstudy found that 65% of Americans favored making Election Day a national holiday. I think, to the best of my knowledge, it's something like $20. Have you experienced an election day in another country, or do you know how voting works in a place we haven't mentioned here? Concentrating voters into a single day risks congesting polling places, even more so than some already are. 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. All rights reserved. Voters in more than one-third of the country enjoy some form of an Election Day holiday, according to RepresentUs. 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. Should the Voting Age Be Lowered to 16? Compared to other developed countries, America's voter turnout rate is pretty sad. States such as Georgia and Iowa already have passed restrictive measures and many others appear poised to do the same thing. Opponents say it allows only a few states to select the president. [31][32] Trying one of these alternatives would avoid the negative economic impact of closing businesses for Election Day. November 7, 2023. But they never go far and die in committee without a vote. "While this would not be a cure-all, it would indicate a national commitment to create a more vibrant democracy.". But some think it should be. Rather, federal elections are held on the third Monday of October, every four years . To combat these efforts, lawmakers nationally have introduced HR1 (the John Lewis Act) and S1, which would enact a number of important provisions: improve ballot access, create nonpartisan redistricting commissions to reduce gerrymandering, provide automatic voter registration when people turn 18, allow at least 15 days of early voting,mandate that presidential candidates disclosure their federal tax returns, and require greater disclosure of so-called dark money campaign contributions. NOW WATCH: Arianna Huffingtons advice to Hillary Clinton, the majority of US states have voter leave laws, You can take time off from work to vote in 30 states here's the full list, voted during the 2016 presidential election, experts say such a scheme is unlikely to fly in the US, The evolution of American voting rights in 242 years shows how far we've come and how far we still have to go, In an interview with President Barack Obama in 2016. 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. South Korea and Israel hold theirs during the week, but have made the day a federal holiday. Consider how you felt about the issue before reading this article. Operated 24:7 through the week. ", "An overall look at Vietnam's election law", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Election_day&oldid=1136894393.
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