pros and cons of making election day a national holiday

[3] In 1800, 83% of the American labor force was agrarian, but today only 11% of total US employment is agriculture-related. It is the duty of the state to make exercising this right as accesible as possible by making the election day a holiday. [18][19], Federal law doesnt require private employers to give employees paid federal holidays. Postings about current events are fine, as long as there is a political science angle. [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. So, no, please dont make Election Day a holiday. Election Day Making Election Day a national holiday will increase voter turnout by enabling more people to vote. 4. [14], Pew Research Center found that 71% of Democrats and 59% of Republicans support making Election Day a federal holiday. Georgia Democrat Stacey Abrams, for example, says she lost the 2018 governors race as a victim of some ballot-blocking scheme. It shouldnt all come down to just one day., Despite Olive Branch from Whitmer,GOPShowing No Interest in Cooperation in2021, A Michigan Reporters Harrowing Experience Inside Capitol DuringInsurrection, New Year Means New Democratic Majority on State SupremeCourt. The result is voter turnout rates of 72.3% and 77.2% respectively, which is 26-32% higher than the United States. Also, would a holiday mean limited public transit schedules, which might make it harder for some people to get to the polls? So, since this effort does not receive bipartisan support, it is difficult to enact.. Other countries take heroic efforts to ensure that people can vote if they desire. That year, just over 36% of eligible voters showed up. The U.S. ranks 26th out of 32 for voter among While many countries hold national elections on holidays, Americans are at liberty to stay at home. Who wants more of the people who think professional wrestling is real or that 9/11 was an inside job to help pick the next president? Over time, voting rights expanded from only white, male landowners age 21 and older to includewomenandpeople of color, as well as citizensage 18 and up, resulting in a dramatic increase in the voting-eligible population and a shift in voter demographics. South Korea and Israel hold theirs during the week, but have made the day a federal holiday. 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. At the heart of the debate is voter turnout give more people the day off, more people will go out of their way to head to the polls. Instead of having the names spelled out, voters would pick between Oje Diben and Noladd Rumpt.. ], [Editors Note: The MLA citation style requires double spacing within entries. By rejecting non-essential cookies, Reddit may still use certain cookies to ensure the proper functionality of our platform. Freedom to Vote Act Federal law doesnt require private employers to give employees paid holidays. Try lower-wage earners at restaurants and stores enterprises that would look to cash in if the working class got an extra day off. In 1800, 83% of the American labor force was agrarian, but today only 11% of total US employment is agriculture-related. It deals with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and laws. 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. Governments are required to [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. Jake Neher is senior producer for Detroit Today and host of MichMash for 101.9 WDET. 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. And some countries, like Australia, require people to vote by subjecting those who dont to a minor fine equivalent to a traffic ticket. Making weekday elections a holiday would align the U.S. with other countries. Rationality and coherent argument are encouraged, whereas ideological flamewars are strongly discouraged. Read More, Election Day is a holiday in Puerto Rico. https://www.hoover.org/profiles/bill-whalen, federal holiday. This year, more than 30 million Americans had already voted two weeks before todays Election Day an electoral surge never seen before. And she said there are lots of other ways to do that like early, in-person voting. If you can draw a line between Donald Trump and President, your vote counts. Election Day Holiday.. Trying one of these alternatives would avoid the negative economic impact of closing businesses for Election Day. While Barton isnt for or against making Election Day a holiday, one thing she is definitely on board with is getting more people to vote. 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. HR 1, also known as the For The People Act.. Source: Matthew Haag, "Mitch McConnell Calls Push to Make Election Day a Holiday a Democratic Power Grab," nytimes.com, Jan. 31, 2019, Differences in Conservative and Liberal Brains, The Electoral College: Top 3 Pros and Cons, Coronavirus: Timeline of Comments by Trump and Biden with Context')" href="https://www.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=007115">, Election Day National Holiday: Top 3 Pros and Cons, 2008 Presidential Election (archived 1/19/09), 2012 Presidential Election (archived 1/22/13), 2016 Presidential Election (archived 1/21/17), College Football Playoffs (archived 9/18/12), Insider Trading by Congress (archived 4/18/12). But these days, Tuesdays are actually quite inconvenient for many Americans, particularly those who cant take time off work to cast their ballots a problem that disproportionately affects Black, Latino and lower-income voters. Tina Barton, a Republican Rochester Hills City Clerk has a lot of those questions, and more. Should People Who Have Completed Felony Sentences Be Allowed to Vote? . If youre rushing to the polls to cast your vote to stop the forces of QAnon or because you seriously believe the same Republican Party that ended slavery wants to bring it back, please stay home. We see that you have javascript disabled. ProCon.org is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit public charity. 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. That, to me,is the real answer, she says. Part of HuffPost Home & Living. Devin Gordon is a Tahlequah business owner. The United States is out of step with the rest of the world: elections are held on weekends in 27 of the 36 OECD countries. States such as Georgia and Iowa already have passed restrictive measures and many others appear poised to do the same thing. 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. 5. By accepting all cookies, you agree to our use of cookies to deliver and maintain our services and site, improve the quality of Reddit, personalize Reddit content and advertising, and measure the effectiveness of advertising. After all, what do our veterans fight for, if not for democracy itself? However, those numbers may be attributed to a combination of factors not solely because their elections occur on non-work days. And these two nuggets, stashed inside Section 1903. Veterans deserve a day that stands on its own without the distractions that come with arriving at the polls and casting votes. Veterans Day typically is about one week after Election Day so this would involve little disruption in terms of job schedules and monthly routines. [23], Annie McDonald, Editor of the Berkeley Public Policy Journal, noted that the workers who are least likely to get paid holidays are those who already have less of a voice in the political process: Americans working in retail, hospitality, and service jobs, for example, would most likely not receive the benefit of a paid holiday to vote. Speaking on MichMash, she explainsthat one of her biggest concerns has to do with the post office. Election Day in the United States has occurred on the Tuesday following the first Monday in November ever since PresidentJohn Tylersigned an 1845 law establishing a specific voting day for the entire country. And the last thing that we want to do is not get someones ballot in because the postal service was closed down.. Advertisement. a list of voting rights provisions he would support, Congress in 2019: The need for bipartisan action on voting rights and election integrity, Voting rights, the next Attorney General, and a less divided America, Republicans in 48 states have introduced 389 bills, Generational change divides GOP, unites Democrats. would align the US with other countries May improve popularity of a candidate. According to the U.S. Census Bureaus data on nonvoters, registered voters from households making more than $150,000 are most likely to say they dont have time to turn out on Election Day. Cheyna has interned with Michigan Radio and freelanced for WKAR public radio in Lansing. 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 very high turnout via universal voting and time off for voting. Many Americans know that Election Day is a Tuesday, but few know why. The bill would also effectively revive Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which requires states with a history of voter discrimination have all changes to their election laws approved by the federal government, updating the law in response to the Supreme Courts 2013 holding in Shelby County v. Holder. 20, 2018, Annie McDonald, "Ensuring Access to Election Day for All, bppj.berkely.edu, Nov. 6, 2018, Suzanne Lucas, "No, Election Day Should Not Be a Federal Holiday, inc.com, Oct. 24, 2016, Kenneth Quinnell, "Know Your Rights: State Laws on Employee Time off to Vote, aflicio.org, Nov. 5, 2016, Osita Nwanevu, "Maybe Making Election Day a National Holiday Wouldnt Really Work, slate.com, Nov. 3, 2016, Abigail Hess, "A Record 44% of US Employers Will Give Their Workers Paid Time off to Vote This Year, cnbc.com, Oct. 31, 2018, Make Time to Vote, homepage, maketimetovote.org (accessed Sep. 24, 2019), Rose Marcario, "Time to Vote, patagonia.com, Sep. 24, 2018, Danielle Root and Liz Kennedy, "Increasing Voter Participation in America, americanprogress.org, July 11, 2018, Kelly Born, "Increasing Voter Turnout: What, If Anything, Can Be Done?, ssir.org, Apr. However, making National Election Day a holiday will disadvantage low-income and blue-collar workers. There is one other option: move elections to Saturdays. 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. [1] Singapore has election day as a federal holiday, and in 2015 this resulted in a voter turnout of 93.6%. Or are there other legitimate and logical reasons that may be preventing the Election Day from becoming a national holiday? Scan this QR code to download the app now. and our 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. 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. In India, for example, a polling place is required within two kilometers (about a mile) of every single person in the country of 1.4 billion. Rose Marcario, CEO, stated, demonstrating your companys commitment to voting will reinforce how essential it is that every eligible voter shows up. We are not a nation of civics nerds. While there are a lot of positives to creating a new national holiday, there are also some negatives. But would such a change turn out the voters Democrats covet most? 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. Arizona, for example, allows employees who do not have three consecutive hours before or after work when the polls are open to take paid time off to vote at the start or end of work days. Proper citation depends on your preferred or required style manual. [36]. Were a country thatll spend as much this year on ads for video games as presidential campaigns (around $5 billion, according to CNBC). They stated, Citizen Day would do more than give our democracy the honor that it deserves; it would help our democracy work better. This simple change would make it easier for Virginia Gov. WebElection Campaign Cons. In 1845, when Congress established a national election day, it had to be a Tuesday because farmers went to church on Sunday, went to market on Wednesday, and may have needed a day, Monday, to get to their polling place, Gil Troy an American presidential historian and McGill University professor told HuffPost. We would put in place automatic voter registration, same-day registration, extended voting days, Election Day as a National Holiday, and other reforms, including mandatory voting (vote or pay a moderate fine) as practiced in Australia, Belgium, and much of Latin America, with a None of the Above option that would trigger a new election if it wins. For more information, please see our North Korea. ", ProCon.org. The second Trump vote could reach those levels. America is walking the knifes edge between maintaining and losing democracy. In 2016, there were about 245 million Americans 18 and older, according to Pew Research, and only 56% of them voted in the Donald-Trump-vs.-Hillary-Clinton throwdown. Lets assume there wont be an election holiday anytime soon not until Democrats control both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue. Allow people to register to vote AND vote on the same day. 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 1. Okun's son is mentioned in this [10][11]] [7] A handful of states have made election day a state holiday, including New York, Hawaii, Kentucky, and, in Apr. 1. Think of things such as voter ID laws, lowering the voting age, and abolishing the Electoral College. 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. 3. Should the United States Use the Electoral College in Presidential Elections? But other solutions would more reliably increase turnout. Making Election Day a national holiday will increase voter turnout by enabling more people to vote. Explore which countries have weekend voting with Pew Research. Her ideas include requiring a statewide risk-limiting audit of an elections results before the state certification,giving clerks more time ahead of Election Day to process ballots and banning open carry of firearms within 100 feet of polling locations. [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. The three presidential elections held in the 1960s ranged from a high of 63.8% (JFK) to a low of 62.5% (Nixon). Lets look at why Congress has never made Election Day a make Election Day Changing state laws and individual companies policies would be more effective ways to help people vote. Election Day National Holiday OK, so why Tuesday? [16]. Plus, some experts say moving to weekend voting could substantially increase the cost of running elections. Adding in a new national holiday isnt necessarily without Not everyone is jumping at the idea of making Election Day a state holiday, however. Election Day National Holiday Top 3 Pros and Cons - ProCon.org But thats not guarantor of a higher turnout. Making election day a holiday would improve the ability of the government to conduct elections. He previously reported on the Michigan Legislature for the Michigan Public Radio Network. Accessed April 27, 2023. https://www.procon.org/should-election-day-be-a-national-holiday/. Even people youd expect to know, like politicians, have been stumped by this very question. WebElection Day National Holiday; Electoral College; Lowering the Voting Age to 16; Voting Machines; Ronald Reagan; Bill Clinton; Election Day National Holiday: Top 3 Pros and Cons. Have you looked at who theyre voting for? The entire voter suppression conspiracy being advanced by progressives is nonsense on its face. And even if elections arent routine in the age of Donald Trump, its a nice option to have. Please enable javascript and refresh the page to continue reading local news. ProCon/Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc. Pro/Con: Don't make Election Day a holiday; we don't need more Everyone will get equal opportunity to vote. Here are five reasons why Election Day should be a national holiday. For example, one may suggest, if we observe Election Day as a national holiday, then we will be unable to adequately staff and secure polling venues, or worse; it would negatively impact government spending. there are more pros than cons with regard to observing Election Day as a federal holiday. Sweden came second with 82.6%. Would you have to pay all levels of election workers holiday pay, which would make administering elections more expensive? High turnout means that people are successfully exercising their rights-a good in itselfbut it also ensures the continuing health of majority rule. Cons: Private employers are not required to give their employees federal holidays anyways. Bartons concerns about the possible unintended consequences of an Election Day holiday haveled a Democratic sponsor of legislation to create the holiday to reconsider her bill. 13 . Other solutions would more reliably increase voter turnout than a national holiday. All rights reserved. Citizens have a right to vote. Make Election Day a federal holiday. Making Election Day a national holiday will disadvantage low-income and blue collar workers. The dream of busy voting booths is the goal of House Democratic legislation to make Election Day a [+] federal holiday. It needs better voters, people who have some vague notion of what theyre voting for or against, not just people practicing identity politics or voting with their political tribe. [20][21][22] A part-time hourly worker is more likely to have multiple jobs, none of which are likely to offer time off for a national holiday. 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. Creating laws in all states that let people vote before or after work would be more effective than a holiday. Congress would shore up the peoples right to vote while guaranteeing the time to engage in this fundamental right. Approximately two million people who work In addition, those who wish to cast their ballots have ample opportunity to do so. WebMore people would vote if Election Day was a national holiday. Really? In the 2016 election, only 56% of voting-age Americans cast their ballots. When turnout is high, it becomes increasingly fruitless for politicians to play to their base in ways that allow a vocal minority to rule, which is how many American leaders currently operate.

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