The U.S. House of Representatives just passed H.R. 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. 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. In 2007, the country held the world's first general Internet election. With Juneteenth now a national holiday, could Election Day and 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 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.". Many other democracies make election day a holiday and they all have higher voter turnout than we do. Others say a holiday would disadvantage low-income and blue collar workers and corporations should have better policies for voting time off. Elections Project, which is close to the complete voter . Monday in early September. And. This page was last edited on 1 February 2023, at 18:43. Proponents say the Electoral College ensures everyone selects the president. COLUMN: Point Counterpoint: There are pros and cons to making Election But none of those states have considerably high turnout compared to those where it isn't a holiday. "Election day should be a national holiday" is a claim of policy because we are discussing a policy which searches a solution for the presented argument. Countries that have weekend or holiday elections do tend to have better turnout overall. 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. Election Day - Tuesday, Nov. 8 - is a special day, with voters casting ballots across the country. Opponents say it allows only a few states to select the president. Some say a holiday would increase voter turnout by enabling more people to vote while celebrating democracy. So the question of how you label Ireland goes back to which holiday you consider its national day. Opponents say kids arent mature enough to vote. A surprising map of the world's national holidays (only two countries [8], In the 2016 presidential election, 55.7% of the American voting-age population cast a ballot. 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. Have you experienced an election day in another country, or do you know how voting works in a place we haven't mentioned here? But some election analysts told CBS News that making Election Day a holiday is not a way to make voting easier. In-person polls open Sunday at 12:01am, close Saturday at 11:59pm. Most others are not so recent, but still not so old: Taiwan's, for example, goes back to a 1911 uprising. I am from Malta - a tiny EU island nation and today we celebrate the shipwreck of St. Paul on our island. 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. And she thinks corporate America has been leading the way, pointing out several businesses, including Walmart and Coca-Cola, that have announced paid time off and other accommodations to make voting easier for employees on November 3. The earliest possible date that Election Day can fall on is November 2nd, and the latest possible date is November 8th. While young people are generally less likely to vote, they are more motivated by the issue of freedom of speech than older generations. Why Election Day Should Be A National Holiday Yet, few of us, especially those who have worked on Capitol Hill, harbor . Sign up to receive a weekly email update on forthcoming public holidays around the world in your inbox every Sunday. 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. It is the day when popular ballots are held to select public officials. [15] Israel and South Korea make national elections a holiday to avoid economic hardship for voters. 5 Reasons Election Day Should Be a National Holiday - Global Citizen 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. Veterans Day typically is about one week after Election Day so this would involve little disruption in terms of job schedules and monthly routines. 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%. Puerto Rico's voter turnout has gone as high as 80 . South Korea and Israel hold theirs during the week, but have made the day a federal holiday. The Evolution of American Voting Rights in 242 Years Shows How Far Weve Come -- and How Far We Still Have to Go, businessinsider.com, Sep. 24, 2019, University of Houston Digital History, "Agriculture, digitalhistory.uh.edu (accessed Sep. 24, 2019), USDA, "Ag and Food Sectors and the Economy, ers.usda.gov, Sep. 20, 2019, Legal Information Institute, "5 U.S. Code 6103. Furthermore, making this small shift would celebrate the purpose and sacrifice of our fighting forces. 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! Election Day isn't a national holiday in the US, but some people think it should be. [10][11]] 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. Compared to other developed countries, America's voter turnout rate is pretty sad. Democracy on the ballot will the remaining election deniers succeed? Modern life operates around the clock. "If I had my way, and I think it is really important, every . Elections Held on Tuesdays?, britannica.com (accessed Sep. 30, 2019), Evan Andrews, "Election 1010: Why Do We Vote on a Tuesday in November?, history.com, Aug. 31, 2018, Grace Panetta and Olivia Reaney, "Today Is National Voter Registration Day. 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 Research Center. 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. Currently, 22 countries around the world have mandatory voting, and ten of those countries enforce the policy, including Australia, Brazil, Belgium, Peru, and Switzerland. Election Practices in Other Countries That America Could Learn From Election Day (United States) - Wikipedia Skip Navigation States such as Georgia and Iowa already have passed restrictive measures and many others appear poised to do the same thing. Access your favorite topics in a personalized feed while you're on the go. Indigenous Peoples Day is a local and state holiday in some parts of the country usually held on Columbus Day that celebrates the cultures of Native Americans. And that election saw the second highest voter turnout in 20 years. Making the presidential election a national holiday is another way to get people to the polls. ELECTION DAY - November 7, 2023 - National Today This map, inspired by a Reddit thread with a similar map, shows the national days of the world's countries. $4+ Billion Cost To Give Federal Employees A New Paid Holiday - Forbes Should election day in the United States be made a national holiday https://www.britannica.com/question/Should-election-day-be-made-a-national-holiday. 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. Mr. CHRISTENSEN: One of the biggest countries that uses compulsory voting is Australia. A National Day is a date for a country to celebrate its nationhood. Election Day as a holiday is something that exists in other countries, but not in most places in the U.S. It's an issue that comes up a lot, but never really gets much serious public debate. 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. 2023 BuzzFeed, Inc. All rights reserved. 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. [6] Election Day could be made a holiday if a bill were passed by the House and Senate then signed into law by the president. 4) The outliers are few but tell you a lot about those . There is a "need to make voting more accessible, to make it more of a civic duty, to make sure that people don't have to choose between their job and their ability to cast the ballot are issues that are more prominent today than ever before," she told CBS News. Ralph Northam signed into law a measure that, among other things, makes Election Day a state holiday in the commonwealth. Should the Voting Age Be Lowered to 16? According to Washington Post columnist Ruth Marcus, Australia adopted compulsory voting in 1924 after turnout there dropped to less than 60 percent in 1922. Research has found that higher trust in the government and democratic process leads to greater voter turnout. 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. In the 2016 election, only 56% of voting-age Americans cast their ballots. A Pew Research Center analysis finds that 27 of the 36 member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development hold their national elections on the weekend, . Again, it is not clear that this is demonstrably true but it is a widespread perception. Should election day be made a national holiday? Why Election Day is on a Tuesday in November in the U.S. | Pew Research The ideal solution is simple: Congress should make Election Day a national holiday, or move Election Day to the weekend. It is set by statute as "the Tuesday next after the first Monday in the month of November.". Will the party listen to them on the issues? But it is not a federal holiday. 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.". Consider the pandemic, which has not given essential workers more time off. [25], According to the AFL-CIO, 30 states require employers to allow employees time off for voting. Traditionally elections are held over two days, starting on a Friday afternoon and ending the following Saturday afternoon. Many Americans know that Election Day is a Tuesday, but few know why. Should the United States use the Electoral College in presidential elections? ], [Editors Note: The MLA citation style requires double spacing within entries. As old as all of these societies are, their senses of national identity are commemorated by remarkably recent events. 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. 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. Start the discussion over on our Facebook page, and let us know about civic engagement in your town, state, or country! 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. He says it's more important to spread voting out over a period of days and methods. Rather than make it a national holiday where inevitably people will still have to work, change election day to election week. ProCon.org. Others say a holiday would disadvantage low-income and blue collar workers and corporations should have better policies for voting time off. [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. [ 18][ 19] Con 1 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. 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. Keep in mind that in the mid-1800s, the U.S. was largely an agricultural society. Nine states classify general elections as holidays: Florida, Hawaii, Maryland, Montana, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island and Virginia. Why Election Day Should Be A National Holiday In America Elections to the European Parliament take place over a period of four days (i.e., Thursday through to Sunday), according to the election days of the EU members states (as listed above). Declaring Election Day a holiday has been proposed various times in Congress; it's a popular idea. 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. Examine this opinion article from Evil HR Lady Suzanne Lucas on why election day should not be a national holiday. 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. This is why election day is not a holiday in Canada - blogTO Election day or polling day is the day on which general elections are held. This year, Election . [1], An election day usually culminates in an election night when the results of the election are tallied and winners are announced.[2].