#FridayNight | #FridayNight | By Citizen TV Kenya - Facebook Why or why not? We are the only advanced democracy that makes it deliberately difficult for people to vote.
On U.S. Election Day, A Look At How Others Vote : NPR Making the presidential election a national holiday is another way to get people to the polls. After all, what do our veterans fight for, if not for democracy itself? The US isn't the only developed country that faces this criticism, however. 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. This article is about the general term "election day" worldwide. 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 . 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. 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. Should the Voting Age Be Lowered to 16? Fourth Sunday of October immediately before the end of the current mandates. Part of HuffPost Home & Living. People literally cannot get to the polling booth because it may close at 7 o'clock and they're working later. These efforts challenge fundamental values of American democracy and constitute a serious threat to the one person, one vote principle. Think of things such as voter ID laws, lowering the voting age, and abolishing the Electoral College.
Newsela | Should Election Day become a national holiday? 2) Most other countries are shaped by relatively recent revolutions.
$4+ Billion Cost To Give Federal Employees A New Paid Holiday - Forbes Election day should be a national holidayCommentary - CNBC No: Too Inconvenient, Early-Voting Options Ample, orlandosentinel.com, Nov. 5, 2018, Henry Farber, "Increasing Voter Turnout: Is Democracy Day the Answer?, princeton.edu, Feb. 2009, Sarah Issenberg, "The Mystery of the Puerto Rico Voter, slate.com, Jan. 27, 2012, Paul LeBlanc, "Virginia Governor Makes Election Day a Holiday and Expands Early Voting,". 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. 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. While these provisions represent major steps in the right direction, they are not enough. Copyright 2023 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. Should People Who Have Completed Felony Sentences Be Allowed to Vote? A cemetery posted a personal ad for a goose whose mate died. Senator Bernie Sanders has certainly tried heintroducedthe "Democracy Day Act" in 2018, which proposed making Election Day a federal holiday. The ideal solution is simple: Congress should make Election Day a national holiday, or move Election Day to the weekend. Election Day is observed on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November, taking place on November 7 this year. Consider this: Even if Election Day were moved to a weekend or turned into a national holiday, retail and service industry employees would still need to work.
Why Election Day Isn't a National Holiday in the US - Business Insider It's amazing how much of the map is green, indicating countries that celebrate a national independence day every year. [31]. 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.
The case for making Election Day an official holiday In many other democracies around the world, national elections are held on the weekend or are a federal holiday. In Australia, all citizens of age to vote are required, and if they fail to do so, they face fines. by country by date Proponents say teens are knowledgeable enough to vote. 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! And even if it were a federal holiday, that wouldn't ensure that all voting-age Americans would have the day off.
This is why election day is not a holiday in Canada - blogTO This is partially due to the influence of Protestantism, which historically set restrictions on activities other than church-going during the Sabbath (usually considered as falling on a Sunday). Tuesday was chosen because it was most convenient for farmers traveling by horse and buggy at the time. 0:58. Last modified on October 1, 2020. 4) The outliers are few but tell you a lot about those countries. Saudi Arabia's marks the 1932 unification of the country. Incidentally, Australia routinely reaches more than 90. Even among the nine weekday voting countries, South Korea's and Israel's voters take a day off work on the day of the election to ensure higher electoral participation. So far this year, hundreds of bills have been introduced that could have the effect of suppressing peoples right to vote. House Democrats introduced their first piece of legislation in the new Congress this week, an anti-corruption bill that proposes making Election Day a federal holiday and encourages . 1, which adds a new paid holiday for federal employees every other year. We also know that countries that have marked their election days as federal events see higher voting turnouts than the United States. 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. Democratic rights are much easier to end than they are to restore, so the federal government must respond to the wave of voter suppression overtaking the states with decisive, expansive action.
Is Election Day a federal 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. - 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? All rights reserved. South Korea and Israel hold theirs during the week, but have made the day a federal holiday. There is no fixed election day for general elections, although since 1986 every general election has been held on Sunday. WASHINGTON, June 24 (Reuters) - Election Day should be a holiday for workers in the United States, President Joe Biden said on Thursday. The U.S. House of Representatives just passed H.R. Like Perez, Becker thinks giving voters more time and opportunity to vote is the best approach.
Today in my country it is a national holiday as we celebrate the day [4][5], The United States currently has 10 national holidays, including Memorial Day, Independence Day, and Christmas Day. In some of these countries, voting is compulsory, and in most of them, Election Day is a holiday. 3. Keep in mind that in the mid-1800s, the U.S. was largely an agricultural society. "We should be making it easier for people to vote, not harder. "[Early and at-home voting] helps prevent bottlenecks for election administrators because it 'flattens the curve' for when ballots are cast by large numbers of voters," Perez said. 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.
Should election day in the United States be made a national holiday 1. Office Holidays provides calendars with dates and information on public holidays and bank holidays in key countries around the world. 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. But they never go far and die in committee without a vote. First Sunday of July until 2018. However, those numbers may be attributed to a combination of factors not solely because their elections occur on non-work days. (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.). 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.
Should Election Day Be a Holiday? - The Atlantic 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. By clicking Sign up, you agree to receive marketing emails from Insider
Election Day National Holiday - Top 3 Pros and Cons - ProCon.org 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. But it is not a federal holiday. Puerto Rico's voter turnout has gone as high as 80 .
Should Election Day Be a Holiday? - Homepage | Morningside Center for Portugal celebrates the 1580 death of celebrated national poet Luis de Camoes, Spain celebrates Columbus Day (yes, the holiday is a little controversial there as well, although not as much as in the U.S.), the Netherlands celebrates the queen's birthday but it still use her mother's birthday for the date and, in Greenland, the celebrate the longest day of the year. Mail-in voting starts 1 month before polls open. But none of those states have considerably high turnout compared to those where it isn't a holiday. Turning Election Day into a national holiday would instill a sense of pride in all citizens, knowing they have the ability to cast a ballot regardless of work. Saturday, but can be any day of the week, such as when a Saturday conflicts with a holiday. They stated, Citizen Day would do more than give our democracy the honor that it deserves; it would help our democracy work better. Without this simple step toward turning out as many Americans as possible to vote, any reform will be incomplete. If your thoughts have not changed, list two to three ways your better understanding of the other side of the issue now helps you better argue your position.
Election Day should be a 'day off,' U.S. President Joe Biden says 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. 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. 2.
Should Election Day Be a Holiday? Here Are Some Pros and Cons Below are the proper citations for this page according to four style manuals (in alphabetical order): the Modern Language Association Style Manual (MLA), the Chicago Manual of Style (Chicago), the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA), and Kate Turabian's A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations (Turabian). However, rules, dates and deadlines vary by state, which can be confusing to some voters.
Make Election Day a national holiday - Brookings 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. Essential reporting and analysis from correspondents around the world. Argentina has instated compulsory voting laws, but only sees about 76% voter turnout. High turnout means that people are successfully exercising their rights-a good in itselfbut it also ensures the continuing health of majority rule. 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. 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. Most National Days are fixed, exceptions to this are shown below. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. Election Day is always the first Tuesday after November 1st.
Where Is Election Day a Holiday? - Ms. Magazine "And we actually have more options than ever before.". 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%. ", "An overall look at Vietnam's election law", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Election_day&oldid=1136894393. "If I had my way, and I think it is really important, every . That means the stock market will be open, and so will. A National Day is a date for a country to celebrate its nationhood. The result is voter turnout rates of 72.3% and 77.2% respectively, which is 26-32% higher than the United States. [ 17] Countries such as France, Mexico, and India also observe federal holidays for elections. Access your favorite topics in a personalized feed while you're on the go. According to Washington Post columnist Ruth Marcus, Australia adopted compulsory voting in 1924 after turnout there dropped to less than 60 percent in 1922. TOP QUESTION Others say a holiday would disadvantage low-income and blue collar workers and corporations should have better policies for voting time off. In an interview published Thursday, President Obama endorsed the idea of holding U.S. federal elections on weekends or national holidays. 2. So, workers having a day off to vote wouldn't be a disruption to the economy, or anything a citizen of our country could deny would be worthwhile and smart thing to do. 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. 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. 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. 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. Election Day is a US State Holiday observed on several states on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November every even-numbered year. Election Day - Tuesday, Nov. 8 - is a special day, with voters casting ballots across the country. [14][35] In Australia, where voting is mandatory, elections are celebrated with parties and barbeques nationwide, resulting in turnout rates around 90%. "Election Day really definitely does need to be a holiday," she said, adding, "We need to be able to have everybody feel like they have a great stake in it.". Regional Belgian public holidays during 2023. Election Day in the United States of America is the Tuesday following the first Monday in November. [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. Even people youd expect to know, like politicians, have been stumped by this very question.
What if Election Day were a holiday? - USA TODAY [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. In Sweden, for example, 83% of registered voters participated in the 2014 national . Omissions? 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. OK, so why Tuesday? 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. 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. 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. 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. A National Day is a date for a country to celebrate its nationhood. Some countries, about 27 of them,make voting compulsory. [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. 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. Consider, for example, the national days of France and Germany: the former marks the French revolution, in 1789, and the latter marks the German reunification in 1990. Read more: You can take time off from work to vote in 30 states here's the full list. Whether election day in the United States should be made a national holiday is debated. 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. By comparison,. So, since this effort does not receive bipartisan support, it is difficult to enact.. Third Monday of October every four years, or after Parliament is dissolved by the. Would making Election Day a federal holiday increase voter turnout and celebrate democracy?
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. 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.". Should the United States Use the Electoral College in Presidential Elections? Most of these 19 states' policies only cover general elections, though. Such a change would mostly benefit white-collar workers instead of the lower-income workers its designed to help. I think, to the best of my knowledge, it's something like $20. Explain your answers. 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). Opponents say it allows only a few states to select the president. [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.
Is Election Day a national holiday? Why you don't get the day off Tuesday was selected because it was the most convenient. And even a number of the blue countries, such as Australia and Canada, are actually the product of colonialism.
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 their work days. [36]. At the top of his list: making Election Day a national holiday.
Where is Election Day a holiday? - The Fulcrum ", ProCon.org. 25, 2016, Chris Talgo, "Make Election Day a National Holiday? Modern life operates around the clock. Monday in early September. Estonia This tiny Baltic nation is making waves for introducing something that seems completely logical in the digital age -- online voting. All federal elections take place the Tuesday after the first Monday in November. 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. [24] Holidays usually mean more work hours for retail workers, because stores run promotions and sales. There's nothing that would stop voters here from treating a Democracy Day like just another day off.". Early voting for the midterms varies by state. [31][32] Trying one of these alternatives would avoid the negative economic impact of closing businesses for Election Day. US voter turnout trails most developed countries. He says it's more important to spread voting out over a period of days and methods.
Patriotic Holidays | National Archives Updates?
Obama Expresses Support For Making Election Day A National Holiday Runoffs take place on the last Sunday of the same October.
Is Election Day a national holiday? Why you don't get the day off Meanwhile, in Macedonia this past September, voters chose to stay away from the polls because of the proposed name change for the country.
ELECTION DAY - November 7, 2023 - National Today 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. Some say a holiday would increase voter turnout by enabling more people to vote while celebrating democracy. Presidential and semipresidential systems, Constituencies: districting and apportionment.
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. CBS News reporter covering climate change and energy. 2020 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.