[16]. History of Election Day Pew also found that certain issues motivate voters more than others: "health care, poverty and education are the top motivators for political engagement." 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. Regional Belgian public holidays during 2023. In fact, these voters may be more likely to have to work as a result of a federal election holiday, where they may have had time off previously on a random Tuesday in November. Many Americans know that Election Day is a Tuesday, but few know why. But in many other countries, the government automatically registers voters and holds elections on days that are weekend days or national holidays. [31][32] Trying one of these alternatives would avoid the negative economic impact of closing businesses for Election Day. Yet, few of us, especially those who have worked on Capitol Hill, harbor . 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. Whether election day in the United States should be made a national holiday is debated. Puerto Rico's voter turnout has gone as high as 80 . In 2007, the country held the world's first general Internet election. 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. 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. The Freedom to Vote Act would make Election Day a national holiday. Its hard to say. Americans are working all the time. It happens to be on the day the politicians themselves get elected. By Monday morning, nearly 60 million had already voted early across the country, closing in on half of 2016's total voter turnout. Rather, federal elections are held on the third Monday of October, every four years . 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. WASHINGTON, June 24 (Reuters) - Election Day should be a holiday for workers in the United States, President Joe Biden said on Thursday. 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. However, the issues vary among different demographic groups. Countries that have weekend or holiday elections do tend to have better turnout overall. By comparison, Belgium reported the highest OECD voter turnout: 87.2% in the most recent national election. While these provisions represent major steps in the right direction, they are not enough. 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. [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. Presented by:Defense Language and National Security Education Office, 60% of the eligible voting population vast a vote, looked at a few different methods of voting. From 2021, the first Sunday of June. South Korea and Israel hold theirs during the week, but have made the day a federal holiday. John M. Cunningham, "Why Are U.S. In fact, in Estonia, the option tovoteonlineis becoming increasingly popular. Tuesday was chosen because it was most convenient for farmers traveling by horse and buggy at the time. The earliest possible date that Election Day can fall on is November 2nd, and the latest possible date is November 8th. 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. 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. 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. 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. With just about six in 10 voters turning out to vote in the U.S., some civil rights advocates are arguing that it's about time to give Americans the day off to vote. 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. 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. But some election analysts told CBS News that making Election Day a holiday is not a way to make voting easier. 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. Some countries, including Belgium and Turkey, see such high voter turnout mainly because of their compulsory voting laws. Modern life operates around the clock. Senator Bernie Sanders has certainly tried heintroducedthe "Democracy Day Act" in 2018, which proposed making Election Day a federal holiday. ", "An overall look at Vietnam's election law", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Election_day&oldid=1136894393. The COVID-19 pandemic convinced. 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. Hailey said the country needs a "cultural shift" to prioritize voting. However, rules, dates and deadlines vary by state, which can be confusing to some voters. 11 July (Tuesday): Celebration of the Golden Spurs (Day of the Flemish Community) - celebrates the victory of the count of Flanders and the borough militia against the king of France outside Courtrai. In 2018, the general election was held on Wednesday. as well as other partner offers and accept our. So, focusing voting efforts to one day doesn't do enough to accommodate everyone, Becker argues. As old as all of these societies are, their senses of national identity are commemorated by remarkably recent events. Passing voting rights reform will be a crucial component of this response, as would making Election Day a national holiday. 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. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. Here are five reasons why Election Day should be a national holiday. These numbers also may be indicative of higher turnout for major elections, but may not reflect engagement in local or regional elections. You are also agreeing to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Election Day in the United States of America is the Tuesday following the first Monday in November. 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. Australia sees around 91%, and 94% in Singapore. 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. Compared to other developed countries, America's voter turnout rate is pretty sad. And that election saw the second highest voter turnout in 20 years. [12], The idea that voting should be a celebration, not a chore is one argument for turning Election Day into a national holiday, according to Archon Fung, PhD, and Jane Mansbridge, PhD, professors at the Harvard Kennedy School. Unlike Singapore, South Korea and Israel, Canada has not declared election days as public holidays. 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. Essential reporting and analysis from correspondents around the world. American election laws have been reformed before with minimal impact on voter turnout which remains low compared to other democracies around the world. But it is not a federal holiday. [17] Countries such as France, Mexico, and India also observe federal holidays for elections. Think about it. The outliers are a tiny minority, and only two countries have no formal national day at all. Mail-in voting starts 1 month before polls open. Such low voter turnout rates in the United States have various reasons why many Americans decide not to vote, but one main reason is not giving them time to vote and cast their ballots. 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. On Sunday, Virginia Democratic Gov. 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. ProCon.org. Elections to the Bundestag may be held on another public holiday. They stated, Citizen Day would do more than give our democracy the honor that it deserves; it would help our democracy work better. 0:58. 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. 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. 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. Sign up for notifications from Insider! Here are the proper bibliographic citations for this page according to four style manuals (in alphabetical order): [Editor's Note: The APA citation style requires double spacing within entries. 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. Consider the pandemic, which has not given essential workers more time off. 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 . Explore which countries have weekend voting with Pew Research. The result is voter turnout rates of 72.3% and 77.2% respectively, which is 26-32% higher than the United States. 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. 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. 4) The outliers are few but tell you a lot about those . 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. Early voting for the midterms varies by state. 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. 26 th January (Republic Day), 15 th August (Independence Day) and 2 nd October (Gandhi Jayanti). The US ranks 26th out of 32 for voter turnout among Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries. - 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? Russia's national holiday only goes back to 1992, when the Russian Federation was founded. Countries like Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Costa Rica, and Mexico also showed high voter turnout rates by having holidays. Last Tuesday was election day in the United States, and this year we voted in the midterm elections. Election day or polling day is the day on which general elections are held. 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. Lists national days around the world by country or date. [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. But none of those states have considerably high turnout compared to those where it isn't a holiday. Veterans Day typically is about one week after Election Day so this would involve little disruption in terms of job schedules and monthly routines. There are many ways to boost voter turnout expanding early voting, automatically registering voters, and improving civic education programs . But Gupta said that there's been a "lack of political will" to give the initiative some momentum. Fourth Sunday of October immediately before the end of the current mandates. 14, 2019, BBC, "Singapore Election: Governing Party Secure Decisive Win, bbc.com, Sep. 12, 2015, Holly Jackson, "It's Time to Make Election Day a Holiday in Law and Spirit," washingtonpost.com, Oct. 22, 2018, BCP Associates, "India Elections 2019 - Declaration of Paid Holiday on Polling Day, bcpassociates.com, Apr. Change often comes slowly, subtly. 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. Countries that hold the ballot before Sunday are not permitted to announce results until all other countries have finished voting. This article was published more than10 years ago. In the US, Election Day is not a national holiday. Some businesses may close, but their hourly paid employees will either have to use a PTO day or not get paid.. Consider the potential benefits and difficulties of changing election day. 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.
View Arlo On Roku Tv, Mygp Cedars Surgery, Power Bi Exclude Visual From Page Filter, John Bowman Cask Strength, Freddy Patel Camden Ripper, Articles C