"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. Making the presidential election a national holiday is another way to get people to the polls. To paraphrase one of the commenters on the Reddit thread, is certainly is ironic that the British empire that is indirectly responsible for so many of the world's independence days has no real national day of its own. As for Denmark, it has a national liberation day and some people celebrate international worker's day, but neither is a public holiday. Election day or polling day is the day on which general elections are held. The US isn't the only developed country that faces this criticism, however. Modern life operates around the clock. A 2018 Pew survey found that the majority of Americans (65%) would be in favor of turning Election Day into a national holiday that includes 71% of Democratic-leaning voters and 59% of Republican-leaning voters. [26] Creating laws in all states that let people vote before or after work would be more effective than a national holiday, which would quickly be viewed as just another day off to enjoy. National and Festival Holiday Act, which is applicable to all establishments in the country, irrespective of under which law it is formed it is mandatory to grant leave on following 3 days, i.e. For other uses, see. But in many other countries, the government automatically registers voters and holds elections on days that are weekend days or national holidays. But they never go far and die in committee without a vote. Some say a holiday would increase voter turnout by enabling more people to vote while celebrating democracy. Regional Belgian public holidays during 2023. 26K views, 1.2K likes, 65 loves, 454 comments, 23 shares, Facebook Watch Videos from Citizen TV Kenya: #FridayNight However, making National Election Day a holiday will disadvantage low-income and blue . ", Others, however, are skeptical that creating a national holiday would increase voter turnout. WASHINGTON, June 24 (Reuters) - Election Day should be a holiday for workers in the United States, President Joe Biden said on Thursday. Tuesday is Election Day, but only in some parts of the country will voters get the day off to cast their ballots. 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. 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.". In an interview with President Barack Obama in 2016, Dan Corey, editor-in-chief of Rutgers University's official student newspaper, The Daily Targum, asked Obama about what could be done to reverse the US's low voter turnout: The Daily Targum: "You have pointed out many times that voter turnout in the United States is very low, especially compared to other developed nations. Research has found that higher trust in the government and democratic process leads to greater voter turnout. For rest of the festival holidays the declaration . The founding fathers at first only granted white, male property owners the right to vote, so the expansion of voting rights has taken some time. Election Day is always the first Tuesday after November 1st. [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. procon@eb.com, 2022 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc. [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). The number of early votes cast before Election Day 2020, as of Nov. 1, neared the 100 million mark according to data aggregated by the U.S. Countries like Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Costa Rica, and Mexico also showed high voter turnout rates by having holidays. Would making Election Day a federal holiday increase voter turnout and celebrate democracy? For more information on how to vote, head over to our TurboVote module. Sundays are the most common day for elections, but this is less true in the Anglosphere; Saturdays are used in New Zealand and Australia, and weekdays for the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada. Office Holidays provides calendars with dates and information on public holidays and bank holidays in key countries around the world. Reformers will be far more successful adding a few days or options or opportunities than trying to undo Election 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 . [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. But some think it should be. Saudi Arabia's marks the 1932 unification of the country. [14][35] In Australia, where voting is mandatory, elections are celebrated with parties and barbeques nationwide, resulting in turnout rates around 90%. But it is not a federal holiday. Because Saturday and Sunday are Sabbath days for devout Jews and Christians, elections would probably have to be held over the two-day period creating a need for more poll workers and a process for securing ballots overnight, Victoria Shineman, a University of Pittsburgh political science professor, wrote in The Washington Post. This is the day we cast ballots to select public officials from local to the national government. Skip Navigation 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. A surprising map of the worlds national holidays (only two countries have no national day), Belarus sentences Nobel Peace laureate Ales Bialiatski to 10 years in jail, This is Bidens chance to press Scholz on Germanys rearmament, Why Russia and Ukraine are fighting over Bakhmut. Without this simple step toward turning out as many Americans as possible to vote, any reform will be incomplete. But while . Most others are not so recent, but still not so old: Taiwan's, for example, goes back to a 1911 uprising. Elections Project, which is close to the complete voter . In fact, in Estonia, the option tovoteonlineis becoming increasingly popular. 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. 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. 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. Tuesday was selected because it was the most convenient. All federal elections take place the Tuesday after the first Monday in November. There's nothing that would stop voters here from treating a Democracy Day like just another day off.". Election Day is not a national holiday in 2022, but some states require employees get paid time off to vote. Making Election Day a holiday would not necessarily involve adding a new holiday, which employers might resistparticularly following the addition of Juneteenth as a national holiday last week. The U.S. lags scores of other countries in election participation, ranking 26th out of 32 nations in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), according to the Pew. Over 60 court cases reviewed the evidence and judgesappointed by both Republican and Democratic presidents alikereached the same conclusion: there was no compelling evidence of fraud. Given this, an Election Day holiday would remove a significant barrier to participation for relatively well-to-do potential voters while doing little to make voting easier for a significant. a list of voting rights provisions he would support. Countries outpacing the U.S. include the U.K, Mexico and Canada. Sweden came second with 82.6%. [10][11]] Accessed February 21, 2023. https://www.procon.org/headlines/election-day-national-holiday-top-3-pros-and-cons/, potential benefits and difficulties of changing election day, election day should not be a national holiday. Opponents say it allows only a few states to select the president. 1. November 7, 2023. of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents and 59% of Republicans and GOP leaners said they would support making Election Day a national holiday. / CBS News. as well as other partner offers and accept our. In Australia, all citizens of age to vote are required, and if they fail to do so, they face fines. Sunday. According to the country's website detailing their "digital society," online voting has soared from 1.9% in 2005 to 30.5% in 2015. In Sweden, for example, 83% of registered voters participated in the 2014 national . Countries that have weekend or holiday elections do tend to have better turnout overall. First Sunday of October. 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. South Korea and Israel hold theirs during the week, but have made the day a federal holiday. If Election Day were a national holiday, how would you ensure hourly and low-income workers would get a chance to vote? 2. In Switzerland, only one canton (or member state) requires voting; it is voluntary all other cantons of the country. Understanding what happened in the Chicago mayoral race. 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. And even a number of the blue countries, such as Australia and Canada, are actually the product of colonialism. 4) The outliers are few but tell you a lot about those countries. 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. While the Republican efforts are shrouded in their supposed desire to protect the integrity of elections, there is no evidence of significant voter fraud in recent elections, including presidential election in 2020. 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. People literally cannot get to the polling booth because it may close at 7 o'clock and they're working later. In 2007, the country held the world's first general Internet election. Many other democracies make election day a holiday and they all have higher voter turnout than we do. 22 June 1986, 29 October 1989, 6 June 1993, 3 March 1996, 12 March 2000, 14 March 2004, 9 March 2008, 20 November 2011, 20 December 2015, 26 June 2016. Some countries, including Belgium and Turkey, see such high voter turnout mainly because of their compulsory voting laws. 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. John M. Cunningham, "Why Are U.S. Think of things such as voter ID laws, lowering the voting age, and abolishing the Electoral College. Explain your answer. As Congress continues to grapple with voting rights legislation this week, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) has used his considerable influence as the Senates key swing vote to set the terms of the debate. Access your favorite topics in a personalized feed while you're on the go. 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. Change often comes slowly, subtly. US voter turnout trails most developed countries. A simple but effective change, however, could be made in election timing. It would take an act of Congress to make Election Day a national holiday, and there is currently a bill proposing to designate "Democracy Day" as a national election holiday before a special committee.