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. 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. 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. [8][15] A holiday for elections sidesteps the issue of a weekend election, which could conflict with religious obligations. Skip Navigation 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. Whether election day in the United States should be made a national holiday is debated. 4) The outliers are few but tell you a lot about those countries. But while . ", Obama: "Absolutely. In the US, Election Day is not a national holiday. Russia's national holiday only goes back to 1992, when the Russian Federation was founded. Would making Election Day a federal holiday increase voter turnout and celebrate democracy? 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. It would take an act of Congress to make Election Day a national holiday, and there is currently a bill proposing to designate "Democracy Day" as a national election holiday before a special committee. Here are five reasons why Election Day should be a national holiday. 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. It worked. 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. Elections Project, which is close to the complete voter . Rather, federal elections are held on the third Monday of October, every four years . 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. But Gupta said that there's been a "lack of political will" to give the initiative some momentum. An ordinary act of Congress could move Election Day to a Saturday or make it a holiday, thereby giving more people more . Top editors give you the stories you want delivered right to your inbox each weekday. After all, what do our veterans fight for, if not for democracy itself? Some say a holiday would increase voter turnout by enabling more people to vote while celebrating democracy. While young people are generally less likely to vote, they are more motivated by the issue of freedom of speech than older generations. "Voting is a fundamental right,. And I think on Election Day we should have a national holiday which says, 'you don't have to rush to vote.' 26K views, 1.2K likes, 65 loves, 454 comments, 23 shares, Facebook Watch Videos from Citizen TV Kenya: #FridayNight Regional Belgian public holidays during 2023. Establishing Election Day as a holiday, taken together with the pending federal voting rights reforms, would go a long way towards stabilizing democracy and ensuring basic democratic rights. This article is about the general term "election day" worldwide. Consider the potential benefits and difficulties of changing election day. ", Others, however, are skeptical that creating a national holiday would increase voter turnout. A National Day is a date for a country to celebrate its nationhood. 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). Before that point, states could hold their presidential elections on any day within a certain 34-day window. Should the United States use the Electoral College in presidential elections? South Africa's is from the first democratic elections, in 1994. Should the United States Use the Electoral College in Presidential Elections? [1], An election day usually culminates in an election night when the results of the election are tallied and winners are announced.[2]. And some countries, like Australia, require people to vote by subjecting those who dont to a minor fine equivalent to a traffic ticket. 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. Of these countries, 27 hold their national elections on a weekend. In 2005, the American Bar Association looked at a few different methods of voting: in 1989 in Namibia, voters marked an X on ballots using ink on their fingers; in Bulgaria, rather than marking a ballot, voters pick from any number of sheets of paper representing specific political parties and puts it in a ballot box; and in Ireland, "they designate their top three candidates by numbering them 1, 2, and 3." 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. Until 2009, elections were held over several consecutive Sundays. Topics Explainers Politics US Evergreen US Explainers YOU MIGHT LIKE 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. of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents and 59% of Republicans and GOP leaners said they would support making Election Day a national holiday. Additionally, many of these individuals rely on school days as childcare for their children. 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. The outliers are a tiny minority, and only two countries have no formal national day at all. Tuesday is Election Day, but only in some parts of the country will voters get the day off to cast their ballots. [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. Hailey said the country needs a "cultural shift" to prioritize voting. However, those numbers may be attributed to a combination of factors not solely because their elections occur on non-work days. This map, inspired by a Reddit thread with a similar map, shows the national days of the world's countries. Should Election Day be a national 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.". America is walking the knifes edge between maintaining and losing democracy. Election Day - Tuesday, Nov. 8 - is a special day, with voters casting ballots across the country. To combat these efforts, lawmakers nationally have introduced HR1 (the John Lewis Act) and S1, which would enact a number of important provisions: improve ballot access, create nonpartisan redistricting commissions to reduce gerrymandering, provide automatic voter registration when people turn 18, allow at least 15 days of early voting,mandate that presidential candidates disclosure their federal tax returns, and require greater disclosure of so-called dark money campaign contributions. It would give people time to vote. Newsweek subscription offers > "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. Tuesday was selected because it was the most convenient. 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. That's true, although the separate "National Day of Commemoration" occurs on the anniversary of the truce ending the Irish war of independence. Traditionally on weekends. By comparison,. Do you think it's time for the US to follow their lead? A National Day is a date for a country to celebrate its nationhood. It happens to be on the day the politicians themselves get elected. 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. Should People Who Have Completed Felony Sentences Be Allowed to Vote? Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. While countries like Belgium, Sweden, and Turkey saw more than 80% of their estimated voting-age population cast votes in recent elections, less than 56% of the estimated voting-age population in the US voted during the 2016 presidential election. People literally cannot get to the polling booth because it may close at 7 o'clock and they're working later.
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