Pro/CON: Should Election Day be a federal holiday Accessed April 27, 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. Pro/Con: Don't make Election Day a holiday; we don't need more Hey, you know who really has high voter turnout? Political science is the scientific study of politics. At the top of his list: making Election Day a national holiday. High turnout means that people are successfully exercising their rights-a good in itselfbut it also ensures the continuing health of majority rule. Funding by lobbyists is a big problem. 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). Many other democracies make election day a holiday and they all have higher voter turnout than we do. 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? Yes, its true Americas voting age is lower than some other developed countries. 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. 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. 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. Opponents say it allows only a few states to select the president. Should the Guantnamo Bay Detention Center Remain Open? Winds light and variable. Devin Gordon is a Tahlequah business owner. 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%. Election Day National Holiday Changing the laws and individual policies would be more effective ways to help people vote. If Election Day were a national holiday, how would you ensure hourly and low-income workers would get a chance to vote? According to the U.S. Census Bureaus data on nonvoters, registered voters from households making more than $150,000 are most likely to say they dont have time to turn out on Election Day. Why or why not? Under normal political circumstances, more Americans follow the race to the World Series than to the White House. However, it wasnt until recently that the idea gained any traction in Congress. Try lower-wage earners at restaurants and stores enterprises that would look to cash in if the working class got an extra day off. Last modified on April 13, 2020. Many states have already declared National Election Day a civic holiday, which is an occasion to commemorate America's history, celebrate our rights and responsibilities as citizens, and learn about our constitutional ideals. 1. In many other democracies around the world, national elections are held on the weekend or are a federal holiday. We get about 20-25% of our absentee ballots come in on Election Day, says Barton. Bartons concerns about the possible unintended consequences of an Election Day holiday haveled a Democratic sponsor of legislation to create the holiday to reconsider her bill. Colleges should have already canceled Election Day classes. (function($) {window.fnames = new Array(); window.ftypes = new Array();fnames[0]='EMAIL';ftypes[0]='email';fnames[1]='FNAME';ftypes[1]='text';fnames[2]='LNAME';ftypes[2]='text';fnames[4]='MMERGE4';ftypes[4]='date';fnames[6]='MMERGE6';ftypes[6]='text';fnames[5]='MMERGE5';ftypes[5]='date';fnames[3]='MMERGE3';ftypes[3]='date';fnames[7]='MMERGE7';ftypes[7]='date';fnames[8]='MMERGE8';ftypes[8]='zip';fnames[9]='MMERGE9';ftypes[9]='radio';fnames[10]='MMERGE10';ftypes[10]='text';fnames[11]='MMERGE11';ftypes[11]='text';}(jQuery));var $mcj = jQuery.noConflict(true); Your connection to news, music, conversation. . Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. 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. Not everyone is jumping at the idea of making Election Day a state holiday, however. Here are five reasons why Election Day should be a national holiday. The bill had zero co-sponsors and went I also take umbrage with the idea that people who dont vote are doing something wrong. We see that you have javascript disabled. One example: if its a holiday, kids are home from schoolmaking it much harder for parents to have time to get to the polls. 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. Virginia Gov. The second Trump vote could reach those levels. Even people youd expect to know, like politicians, have been stumped by this very question. Many Americans know that Election Day is a Tuesday, but few know why. 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. https://www.britannica.com/story/pro-and-con-election-day-holiday. Should the U.S. Make Election Day a National Holiday? - Ask.com 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. It would only make it harder and more expensive for all candidates to have a fair shot at competing. and our 12 . 2. And the last thing that we want to do is not get someones ballot in because the postal service was closed down.. Please make a gift today. Top Issues for Voters. And it will, in turn, help strengthen the idea that businesses can and will come together for a worthy common purpose: protecting our democracy by empowering all American workers to be good citizens. [30], Solutions such as automatic voter registration, same-day registration, early voting, no-excuse absentee voting, restoring voting rights to former felons, improved civics education, and voter outreach would all improve voter participation more reliably than a national holiday. Rationality and coherent argument are encouraged, whereas ideological flamewars are strongly discouraged. 13 . One major reason: It comes down to tradition, Troy said. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. And so, this would actually make it even easier and validate businesses to give their employees the day off so that they can work the elections and serve as election workers.. COLUMN: Point Counterpoint: There are pros and cons Political campaigns can help winning elections. In true American fashion, I say we take the day off, cast our votes, then stock up the ice chests with beer, fire up and thaw out the grill, gather with friends and neighbors while we argue and/or celebrate the individual we choose as commander in chief for the next four years. shouldnt voting be mandatory And if they get sick on Monday, the day before the election theyre not trying to get an emergency ballot, or something like that. Winds light and variable.. Sorry, there are no recent results for popular commented articles. 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. Everyone will get equal opportunity to vote. Lets get early in-person voting in place in Michigan, so that everyone has an opportunity that fits their schedule. 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. Veterans Day typically is about one week after Election Day so this would involve little disruption in terms of job schedules and monthly routines. List two to three ways. However, it gives voters the choice of not having to detour from their routines on 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. This article was published on October 1, 2020, at Britannicas ProCon.org, a nonpartisan issue-information source. Before that point, states could hold their presidential elections on any day within a certain 34-day window. Its hard to say. Partly cloudy skies. Russia, Turkey, Iran, Syria Meet In Moscow: Whats Afoot? Automatic Voter Registration Consider how you felt about the issue before reading this article. While there are a lot of positives to creating a new national holiday, there are also some negatives. Or are there other legitimate and logical reasons that may be preventing the Election Day from becoming a national holiday? Election Day Holiday.. But if you must, then I insist we move the election to April 15, Tax Day, to remind everyone how much these elections cost. This would actually make it even easier and validate businesses to give their employees the day off so that they can work the elections and serve as election workers. Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson. Its time to make voting harder. Please enable javascript and refresh the page to continue reading local news. 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. [8][15] A holiday for elections sidesteps the issue of a weekend election, which could conflict with religious obligations. Privacy Policy. But other solutions would more reliably increase turnout. Reddit and its partners use cookies and similar technologies to provide you with a better experience. You have permission to edit this article. Michael Graham is political editor at InsideSources.com. To have a democratic society, we need to restructure government and elections. [1] Singapore has election day as a federal holiday, and in 2015 this resulted in a voter turnout of 93.6%. Move Voting to Veterans Day - Politico
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