Pew also found that certain issues motivate voters more than others: "health care, poverty and education are the top motivators for political engagement." 25, 2016, Chris Talgo, "Make Election Day a National Holiday? John M. Cunningham, "Why Are U.S. Here are five reasons why Election Day should be a national holiday. Copyright 2023 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. 2) Most other countries are shaped by relatively recent revolutions. Voter turnout in the United States is usually considered low, especially in years without a presidential election. 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. 2. Countries outpacing the U.S. include the U.K, Mexico and Canada. Others have suggested making Veterans Day (Nov. 11), which is already a paid national holiday, Election Day. 4) The outliers are few but tell you a lot about those . While young people are generally less likely to vote, they are more motivated by the issue of freedom of speech than older generations.
Election Day should be a 'day off,' U.S. President Joe Biden says 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. [15] Israel and South Korea make national elections a holiday to avoid economic hardship for voters. ], [Editors Note: The MLA citation style requires double spacing within entries.
Is Election Day a federal holiday? Here's what is open, closed Tuesday Learn how and when to remove this template message, Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, 2020 North Macedonian parliamentary election, "THE ELECTORAL CODE OF THE REPUBLIC OF ALBANIA. Take, for example, Bhutan, which every celebrates the anniversary of Ugyen Wangchuck's 1907 election as the nation's first hereditary king (yes, you read that correctly), but not its 1949 independence. Many other democracies make election day a holiday and they all have higher voter turnout than we do. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) is a group that includes 36 countries. That's true, although the separate "National Day of Commemoration" occurs on the anniversary of the truce ending the Irish war of independence. ], ProCon.org, "Election Day National Holiday Top 3 Pros and Cons,", ProCon.org, "Election Day National Holiday Top 3 Pros and Cons. Election Day in the United States of America is the Tuesday following the first Monday in November. "If I had my way, and I think it is really important, every . [1], An election day usually culminates in an election night when the results of the election are tallied and winners are announced.[2].
Why Election Day Isn't a National Holiday in the US - Business Insider 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. Proponents say the Electoral College ensures everyone selects the president. Especially given that 65% of Americans support making election day a national holiday and 43% of voters already live in one of the 19 states with some form of voting holiday. "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. [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. Elections Project, which is close to the complete voter . A National Day is a date for a country to celebrate its nationhood. As of mid-May Republicans in 48 states have introduced 389 bills that would reduce the hours polls are open; forbid people from eating or drinking while waiting in line to vote; close voter registration on Sundays, when Black churches traditionally have organized their members to register and vote; repeal no excuse absentee voting; and create a long list of other barriers to voting. What we're proposing isn't that every Election Day becomes a national holiday, just the presidential election, which only takes place once every four years. Litigation pending before the Supreme Court this term in Brnovich v. DNC, however, threatens to undermine this rule.
Election day - Wikipedia Sweden came second with 82.6%. Read more: You can take time off from work to vote in 30 states here's the full list. 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. Think about it. 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 designateelection day a national holiday. After reading the pros and cons on this topic, has your thinking changed?
COLUMN: Point Counterpoint: There are pros and cons to making Election In theory, it seems that any move that would make it easier for Americans to vote would increase participation. 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. There are many ways to boost voter turnout expanding early voting, automatically registering voters, and improving civic education programs . Should the United States Use the Electoral College in Presidential Elections? Monday in early September. "And we actually have more options than ever before.". There is no fixed election day for general elections, although since 1986 every general election has been held on Sunday. Theyare still considerably higher than in the United States, which typically sees about 65% on average turn out to vote for major elections.
Is Election Day a national holiday? Why you don't get the day off South Africa's is from the first democratic elections, in 1994.
This is why election day is not a holiday in Canada - blogTO List two to three ways. Because of the pandemic, more U.S. voters are exploring alternatives to voting on Election Day, such as early voting and mail-in voting. WASHINGTON, June 24 (Reuters) - Election Day should be a holiday for workers in the United States, President Joe Biden said on Thursday. At least 10 dead after winter storm slams South, Midwest, The Saturday Six: Dental device controversy, scientist's bug find and more, Indonesia fuel depot fire kills 18; more than a dozen missing, Biden had cancerous skin lesion removed last month, doctor says, Tom Sizemore, actor known for "Saving Private Ryan" and "Heat," dies at 61, Defense lawyers in Idaho killings case want gag order kept, Alex Murdaugh sentenced to life in prison for murders of wife and son. I think, to the best of my knowledge, it's something like $20. as well as other partner offers and accept our. And in Australia, there is a fine. 4. 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?
[8], In the 2016 presidential election, 55.7% of the American voting-age population cast a ballot. Politicians, most recently House Democrats in 2019, have also floated the idea of turning a weekday Election Day into a federal holiday, but to no avail. Here is the relevant passage from Acts 28: All 435 representatives were up for re-election, as well as a third ofsenators, and countless elections for governors, mayors, state legislators, and local government across the country. In 2007, the country held the world's first general Internet election. Holidays, law.cornell.edu (accessed Sep. 30, 2019), Matthew Haag, "Mitch McConnell Calls Push to Make Election Day a Holiday a Democratic Power Grab," nytimes.com, Jan. 31, 2019, Drew DeSilver, "U.S. Trails Most Developed Countries in Voter Turnout, pewresearch.org, May 21, 2018, Gustavo Lpez and Antonio Flores, "Dislike of Candidates or Campaign Issues Was Most Common Reason for Not Voting in 2016, pewresearch.org, June 1, 2017, Beau C. Tremitiere, "Election Day Should Be a National Holiday, cnbc.com, July 5, 2016, York Dispatch Editorial Board, "Editorial: On Voting, GOP Takes a Holiday from its Senses, yorkdispatch.com, Feb. 1, 2019, Tacey Rychter, "How Compulsory Voting Works: Australians Explain," nytimes.com, Nov. 5, 2018, Archon Fung and Jane Mansbridge, "Lets Vote, Party and Celebrate American Democracy on a New Holiday Called Citizen Day, usatoday.com, Oct. 26, 2018, Thomas MacMillan, "This Might Be the Best Idea for Turning out More Voters in U.S. Elections, nymag.com, July 8, 2017, Drew Desilver, "Weekday Elections Set the U.S. apart from Many Other Advanced Democracies, pewresearch.org, Nov. 6, 2018, Kathy Frankovic, "St. Patricks Day Not So Popular - Americans Would Rather Election Day a Holiday, today.yougov.com, Mar. In the US, Election Day is not a national holiday. Declaring Election Day a holiday has been proposed various times in Congress; it's a popular idea. Explore which countries have weekend voting with Pew Research. Omissions? Unlike Singapore, South Korea and Israel, Canada has not declared election days as public holidays. Some countries, including Belgium and Turkey, see such high voter turnout mainly because of their compulsory voting laws.
Would turnout go up if we didn't have to vote on a workday? Democracy on the ballot will the remaining election deniers succeed? So when faced with choices like having to take unpaid time off work to vote, waking at the wee hours of the morning to vote so that they're not late to work, standing in hours-long lines with everyone else who waited until after the workday to cast their ballot, or simply not voting at all, many choose the latter. Even people youd expect to know, like politicians, have been stumped by this very question. 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.
Should Election Day Be a Holiday? - Homepage | Morningside Center for With those options early in-person voting and more voter awareness on how to vote by mail voter turnout appears to be trending upward. As old as all of these societies are, their senses of national identity are commemorated by remarkably recent events. The U.S. ranks 26th out of 32 for voter among Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development countries.
Make Election Day a National Holiday | YIP Institute As you can see, the world is mostly divided between countries that celebrate a national independence day and countries that celebrate a national unification or revolution day. In 2018, the general election was held on Wednesday. Consider the pandemic, which has not given essential workers more time off. This article was published more than10 years ago. 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. It commemorates the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., a reverend and civil .
Countries that have weekend or holiday elections do tend to have better turnout overall.
Why isn't Election Day a national holiday yet? - CNN The types of workers least likely to reap the benefits of a federal holiday are those who already struggle to vote, Shineman noted. For more information on how to vote, head over to our TurboVote module. In Estonia, a national ID card (required for every citizen in the country) can be used to vote remotely. A number of bills like the Weekend Voting Act have been proposed in Congress over the years, often by Democrats. People literally cannot get to the polling booth because it may close at 7 o'clock and they're working later. 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. However, for the most part, most countries vote in person at the voting booth, and while countries may alter the length of election periods andthe equipment used in voting from election to election, it still tends to have many of the same features. He says it's more important to spread voting out over a period of days and methods. Of these countries, 27 hold their national elections on a weekend. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. - 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? Sunday: the second Sunday of March for Congress, and the second Sunday of May for President and Vice President. 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. Furthermore, making this small shift would celebrate the purpose and sacrifice of our fighting forces. All this despite the fact that these types of restrictions have typically been considered illegal under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, which requires that elections be equally open to all people. Essential reporting and analysis from correspondents around the world. 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. If so, how? It happens to be on the day the politicians themselves get elected. An independence day is an annual event commemorating the anniversary of a nation's independence or statehood, usually after ceasing to be a group or part of another nation or state, or more rarely after the end of a military occupation.Many countries commemorate their independence from a colonial empire.. Not all countries mark independence as a national holiday. Additionally, many of these individuals rely on school days as childcare for their children.
Maybe Making Election Day a National Holiday Wouldn't Really Work [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.
Why Election Day Should Be A National Holiday And I think on Election Day we should have a national holiday which says, 'you don't have to rush to vote.' Last Tuesday was election day in the United States, and this year we voted in the midterm elections. It's a reminder of turmoil of the last century a very short span in historical terms and how deeply its events influence the world today. What other improvements could be made to voting and Election Day? American election laws have been reformed before with minimal impact on voter turnout which remains low compared to other democracies around the world. So far this year, hundreds of bills have been introduced that could have the effect of suppressing peoples right to vote. 27 September (Wednesday): Day of the French-speaking Community - commemorates the victory of the patriots against the Dutch army in Brussels in 1830. But while . of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents and 59% of Republicans and GOP leaners said they would support making Election Day a national holiday. Japan formally celebrates the anniversary of an ancient mythical emperor, although the holiday is mostly ignored today, due in part to its connections with Japan's ugly imperial history. 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. 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. But in many other countries, the government automatically registers voters and holds elections on days that are weekend days or national holidays. Election Day - Tuesday, Nov. 8 - is a special day, with voters casting ballots across the country. It's amazing how much of the map is green, indicating countries that celebrate a national independence day every year. Others say a holiday would disadvantage low-income and blue collar workers and corporations should have better policies for voting time off. 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. In Sweden, for example, 83% of registered voters participated in the 2014 national . 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. The US isn't the only developed country that faces this criticism, however. President Obama likes the idea of changing the way or the day Americans vote. (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.). [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.
Usually Wednesday. Martin Luther King Jr. Day Washington's Birthday Memorial Day Flag Day Independence Day Constitution Day Election Day Veterans Day Bill of Rights Day Martin Luther King Jr. Day Martin Luther King, Jr. Day takes place on third Monday of January each year, near the time of Dr. King's birthday on January 15th. Today in my country it is a national holiday as we celebrate the day when St. Paul converted our whole country to Catholicism in AD 60.
Election Day in USA in 2023 | Office Holidays Read More, Election Day is a holiday in Puerto Rico. In 2018, a Pewstudy found that 65% of Americans favored making Election Day a national holiday.
Should election day in the United States be made a national holiday It is the day when popular ballots are held to select public officials. The correct answer is B. Advertisement Advertisement marberman marberman It is set by statute as "the Tuesday next after the first Monday in the month of November.". a list of voting rights provisions he would support. ", Obama: "Absolutely. It was created in 1992,. October 26, 2020 / 10:57 AM 1. 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. Early voting for the midterms varies by state. [17] Countries such as France, Mexico, and India also observe federal holidays for elections. [18][19], Federal law doesnt require private employers to give employees paid federal holidays. It is very, very hard to change core American traditions.. 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. Most National Days are fixed, exceptions to this are shown below. 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.
Would Making Election Day a Federal Holiday Boost U.S. Voter Turnout Most National Days are fixed, exceptions to this are shown below. [4][5], The United States currently has 10 national holidays, including Memorial Day, Independence Day, and Christmas Day. For more on the debate about making election day a national holiday, visit ProCon.org. ", Others, however, are skeptical that creating a national holiday would increase voter turnout. 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. In some of these countries, voting is compulsory, and in most of them, Election Day is a holiday. And even a number of the blue countries, such as Australia and Canada, are actually the product of colonialism. 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 . 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. Election day is a national holiday. This is the day we cast ballots to select public officials from local to the national government.