Read more: The evolution of American voting rights in 242 years shows how far we've come and how far we still have to go. Executive director and founder of the Center for Election Innovation & Research David Becker argues that increasing turnout is a nuanced problem that can't be fixed by declaring a holiday. Will the party listen to them on the issues? To look through the stats for voter turnout for other countries, you can visit the website for the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA) and explore the data. 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. "While this would not be a cure-all, it would indicate a national commitment to create a more vibrant democracy.". Should People Who Have Completed Felony Sentences Be Allowed to Vote? Election officials in various states have predicted historic levels of turnout in 2020, with a chance to reach the highest ever. 0:58. Here is the relevant passage from Acts 28:
Election Practices in Other Countries That America Could Learn From Like Perez, Becker thinks giving voters more time and opportunity to vote is the best approach. Americans are working all the time. 1. [36].
Election Day in the United States - Time and Date Most others are not so recent, but still not so old: Taiwan's, for example, goes back to a 1911 uprising. 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. Because the impact of a federal holiday is far-reaching, many states and workplaces would likely follow suit. 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. 2023 BuzzFeed, Inc. All rights reserved. Puerto Rico's voter turnout has gone as high as 80 . Concentrating voters into a single day risks congesting polling places, even more so than some already are. Most recently, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont proposed a bill to designate "Democracy Day" as a national election holiday, which sits before a special committee. The U.S. ranks 26th out of 32 for voter among Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development countries. Countries outpacing the U.S. include the U.K, Mexico and Canada.
Is Election Day a federal holiday? | The US Sun [20][21][22] A part-time hourly worker is more likely to have multiple jobs, none of which are likely to offer time off for a national holiday. By Monday morning, nearly 60 million had already voted early across the country, closing in on half of 2016's total voter turnout. But these days, Tuesdays are actually quite inconvenient for many Americans, particularly those who cant take time off work to cast their ballots a problem that disproportionately affects Black, Latino and lower-income voters. The Freedom to Vote Act would make Election Day a national holiday for federal elections, meaning non-essential federal employees would get a paid day off. In the 2016 election, only 56% of voting-age Americans cast their ballots. Without this simple step toward turning out as many Americans as possible to vote, any reform will be incomplete. ", Obama: "Absolutely. ", Others, however, are skeptical that creating a national holiday would increase voter turnout. 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. In Sweden, for example, 83% of registered voters participated in the 2014 national . [8], In the 2016 presidential election, 55.7% of the American voting-age population cast a ballot. The pros and cons of the felon voting debate include arguments about the social contract, voting while in prison, and paying debts. In Estonia, a national ID card (required for every citizen in the country) can be used to vote remotely. 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 many other democracies around the world, national elections are held on the weekend or are a federal holiday. Whether election day should be made a national holiday is debated. 4) The outliers are few but tell you a lot about those countries. But none of those states have considerably high turnout compared to those where it isn't a holiday. Nine states classify general elections as holidays: Florida, Hawaii, Maryland, Montana, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island and Virginia. 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. ], ProCon.org, "Election Day National Holiday Top 3 Pros and Cons,", ProCon.org, "Election Day National Holiday Top 3 Pros and Cons.
3 Countries Where It's Easier To Vote Than the United States And so while it's very understandable that people are trying to find ways to make it more convenient for people to vote, it's very likely that Election Day as a national holiday would actually hurt the voters who most need more options," Becker said. Change often comes slowly, subtly. [31]. And in Australia, there is a fine. But it is not a federal holiday. 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. "[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. 12, 2019, Ceylan Pumphrey, "Do Businesses Have to Give Federal Holidays Like Presidents Day Off?, blogs.findlaw.com, Feb. 14, 2018, Department of Labor, "Holiday Pay, dol.gov (accessed Sep. 23, 2019), Peggy Emch, "Is Holiday Pay Required by Law?, timesheets.com, 2013, Fast Casual, "Study: Why Hourly Workers Forced to Work Multiple Jobs, fastcasual.com, Apr. But some think it should be. Most National Days are fixed, exceptions to this are shown below. And there is no better way to secure democracy than to ensure that everyone has not only the right to vote, but also the meaningful opportunity to cast their ballots. Britain, after all, developed its political institutions pretty gradually, so there was no real "Bastille Day" moment that defines the modern nation. Regional Belgian public holidays during 2023. "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.". 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. 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! ProCon.org is the institutional or organization author for all ProCon.org pages. Think of things such as voter ID laws, lowering the voting age, and abolishing the Electoral College. 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. 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). 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.
Is Election Day a Holiday in Your State? | RepresentUs Again, it is not clear that this is demonstrably true but it is a widespread perception. 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.
COLUMN: Point Counterpoint: There are pros and cons to making Election [31][32] Trying one of these alternatives would avoid the negative economic impact of closing businesses for Election Day. 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. 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. Update: Some readers think that Ireland should also be considered an outlier, as St. Patrick's Day is often considered its primary "national day" and is not really an independence or revolution day. In 2018, a Pewstudy found that 65% of Americans favored making Election Day a national holiday. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Corrections?