pros and cons of making election day a national holiday

Approximately two million people who work for the federal government would be given a paid day off, and private companies might follow suit. It shouldnt all come down to just one day., Despite Olive Branch from Whitmer,GOPShowing No Interest in Cooperation in2021, A Michigan Reporters Harrowing Experience Inside Capitol DuringInsurrection, New Year Means New Democratic Majority on State SupremeCourt. [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. https://www.hoover.org/profiles/bill-whalen, federal holiday. ProCon.org is the institutional or organization author for all ProCon.org pages. COLUMN: Point Counterpoint: There are pros and cons to making Election Day a national holiday, OKLAHOMA WATCH: For tenants behind on rent, ant, Armstrong Bank appoints Aston Armstrong Hudson , OKLAHOMA WATCH: School report cards released, b, Keys secure Districts sweep against Colgate, Doctor accused of killing nurse released on bond, Man accused of sexting minor to appear in court, Business owner accused of obstructing an officer has undisclosed offer revised, EVERYDAY HEROES: Photog overcomes challenges to earn degree, BERRY BEST TIME: Strawberry growers in Adair County start selling crop, Man accused of killing three people denied demand for admissibility hearing, Man charged with murder of deputys daughter pleads not guilty, HAPPENING RIGHT NOW IN DOWNTOWN TAHLEQUAH: 2023 RED FERN FESTIVAL. On WDETs Detroit Today with Stephen Henderson, Benson emphasized that making Election Day a holiday would make it easier toattractmore election workers. And these two nuggets, stashed inside Section 1903. So its more important than ever for you, our listeners and readers, who are able todonate to keep supporting WDETs mission. Nations like Israel and South Korea make election day a national holiday and have voter turnout rates of 72.3% and 77.2% respectively, which is significantly higher than that of the US. Make Election Day a federal holiday. So who benefits if the U.S. move to a system where its adults have all of Tuesday to go to polls, if they so choose? Accessed April 27, 2023. https://www.procon.org/should-election-day-be-a-national-holiday/. procon@eb.com, 2023 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc. [31][32] Trying one of these alternatives would avoid the negative economic impact of closing businesses for Election Day. Without this simple step toward turning out as many Americans as possible to vote, any reform will be incomplete. The second Trump vote could reach those levels. A survey showed U.S. adults would rather have a federal holiday on Election Day than on Christmas Eve, the Friday after Thanksgiving, or St. Patricks Day. Furthermore, making this small shift would celebrate the purpose and sacrifice of our fighting forces. Election Day holiday: The bill would make Election Day a legal public holiday, making it easier for voters to get to the polls. In this pro the author says that if election day was a holiday it would make more people vote and that is a good thing. The question remains: is such a holiday good public policy? Both were senior officials in the Clinton administration. So, no, please dont make Election Day a holiday. If you want to make Election Day a national holiday because you believe American workers should have more days off to hang out with their families or pound a few brewskis with their buds Im all in. Coronavirus: Timeline of Comments by Trump and Biden with Context. High turnout means that people are successfully exercising their rights-a good in itselfbut it also ensures the continuing health of majority rule. Election Day National Holiday Top 3 Pros and Cons - ProCon.org Twelve federal holidays are recognized each year: New Year's Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Washingtons Birthday, Memorial Day, Juneteenth, Independence Day, Labor Day, Columbus Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas. May improve popularity of a candidate. Marshall is an attorney in Washington and Okun is a corporate strategic advisor in Singapore for McLarty Associates. The bill had zero co-sponsors and went [27], Companies including Abercrombie & Fitch Co., Farmers Insurance, Kaiser Permanente, Patagonia, and Walmart have joined Make Time to Vote campaign, which encourages employers to provide paid time off, schedule no meetings on Election Day, and give information on mail-in ballots and early voting. Consider how you felt about the issue before reading this article. To have a democratic society, we need to restructure government and elections. [15] A survey showed that US adults would rather have a federal holiday on Election Day than on Christmas Eve, the Friday after Thanksgiving, or St. Patricks day. 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 participation. 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. We would put in place automatic voter registration, same-day registration, extended voting days, Election Day as a National Holiday, and other reforms, including mandatory voting (vote or pay a moderate fine) as practiced in Australia, Belgium, and much of Latin America, with a None of the Above option that would trigger a new election if it wins. It is very, very hard to change core American traditions.. Compulsory voting. Should Election Day Be a National Holiday? If a right-wing cabal really is running a secret, suppress-the-vote operation, its the most inept conspiracy since Jussie Smollett and the Subway Sandwich Scam. Is there any veracity to what this dude is claiming? If changes need to be made nationally, those changes should relate to job security and compensation. National Election Day rolls around every four years and falls on the first Tuesday in November. The pros and cons of the felon voting debate include arguments about the social contract, voting while in prison, and paying debts. Pros & Cons Of Election Campaigns After all, what do our veterans fight for, if not for democracy itself? [7] A handful of states have made election day a state holiday, including New York, Hawaii, Kentucky, and, in Apr. These efforts challenge fundamental values of American democracy and constitute a serious threat to the one person, one vote principle. ProCon.org is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit public charity. 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. Even people youd expect to know, like politicians, have been stumped by this very question. Is that really an improvement? By registering through a routine and necessary transaction such as those at the DMV, voters wont have to worry about registration deadlines or application submissions. Dont give the nation a day off, but do a better job of giving voters options for getting involved. 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. Should People Who Have Completed Felony Sentences Be Allowed to Vote? This is a stressful, insecure time for many. Push for the position and policies you support by writing US national senators and representatives. WebProCon.org - Pros and Cons of Controversial Issues Kneeling during National Anthem US Presidents on Money PROS AND CONS OF CONTROVERSIAL ISSUES PROCON.ORG HEADLINES - Our Issues in the News Are DACA and the DREAM Act Good for America? A National ], ProCon.org, "Election Day National Holiday Top 3 Pros and Cons,", ProCon.org, "Election Day National Holiday Top 3 Pros and Cons. It is the duty of the state to make exercising this right as accesible as possible by making the election day a holiday. Trying one of these alternatives would avoid the negative economic impact of closing businesses for Election Day. Should the Guantnamo Bay Detention Center Remain Open? 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. [4][5], The United States currently has 10 national holidays, including Memorial Day, Independence Day, and Christmas Day. However, making National Election Day a holiday will disadvantage low-income and blue-collar workers. 5 Reasons Election Day Should Be a National Holiday - Global Last modified on April 13, 2020. This past year, we were able to make it work through sports teams and other businesses that stepped up, gave their employees the day off, made it a holiday internally, says Benson. Political science is the scientific study of politics. 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 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. While many countries hold national elections on holidays, Americans are at liberty to stay at home. In 1845, when Congress established a national election day, it had to be a Tuesday because farmers went to church on Sunday, went to market on Wednesday, and may have needed a day, Monday, to get to their polling place, Gil Troy an American presidential historian and McGill University professor told HuffPost. While there are a lot of positives to creating a new national holiday, there are also some negatives. [15] Israel and South Korea make national elections a holiday to avoid economic hardship for voters. That puts us behind countries like Australia, Belgium, and Luxembourg, which all have higher participation rates than the United States. Read More, Election Day is a holiday in Puerto Rico. Whether accurate or not, elected officials likely think that making it easier to vote would advantage one party at the expense of the other party.. In Texas, for instance, the deadline to register to vote for the 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. Really? Managing Editor Chicago, Illinois 60654 USA, Natalie Leppard Opponents say kids arent mature enough to vote. Whether the voter has to go to office or has an important meeting, they may not be able to find any excuse to miss the voting procedure if election day is declared as a national holiday. 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. If youre rushing to the polls to cast your vote to stop the forces of QAnon or because you seriously believe the same Republican Party that ended slavery wants to bring it back, please stay home. The types of workers least likely to reap the benefits of a federal holiday are those who already struggle to vote, Shineman noted. (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. 12 . Her ideas include requiring a statewide risk-limiting audit of an elections results before the state certification,giving clerks more time ahead of Election Day to process ballots and banning open carry of firearms within 100 feet of polling locations. For example, one may suggest, if we observe Election Day as a national holiday, then we will be unable to adequately staff and secure polling venues, or worse; it would negatively impact government spending. there are more pros than cons with regard to observing Election Day as a federal holiday. National Election Day would make a 13th and it would only be observed once every four years and would help ensure voters could avoid the stresses of time constraints and other factors that hinder their ability to vote. Its time to make voting harder. Advertisement. Protections for individuals with disabilities: The bill would address some of the biggest challenges to voting access that Americans with disabilities face. Carlson calls on Minnesotans to oppose sulfide mining, Local View: The stories of spring, other seasons, play out in the night sky, In Response: Expensive or not, Minnesota a good place to do business, The beginning of the rest of their lives: Powwow recognizes Fond du Lac graduates and more, Lake Superior Medical Equipment relocates to West Duluth after fire, Minnesota DNR, feds sign agreement over logging in wildlife areas, Special Olympics return to Northland after 3 years. Sweden came second with 82.6%. But thats not guarantor of a higher turnout. Lets assume there wont be an election holiday anytime soon not until Democrats control both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue. Should Election Day be a national 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. In Australia, where voting is mandatory, elections are celebrated with parties and barbecues, resulting in turnout rates around 90 percent. Or we could use the Jumble ballot. 25, 2016, Chris Talgo, "Make Election Day a National Holiday? Before that point, states could hold their presidential elections on any day within a certain 34-day window. Poland, for example, holds elections on weekends. But experts say improving voter turnout is a complicated issue that no single silver bullet strategy can solve. 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. Move past the theatrics of the government shutdown, impeachment and the threat of investigations ad infinitumand theres the question of Democrat squad goals in a Pelosi-run House of Representatives. To Feed His Ravenous Flock, Ron DeSantis Ignores the Real Problem With the Fed, The Flat Tax Revolution In State Capitals Is Thriving, Amazon Tax Subsidies Are Inefficient Job Creators, New Immigration Initiatives Promise Improvements In U.S. Migration From Southern Countries, Latest Biden Regulation Will Cause Massive Trouble For New Homebuyers, retired matadors and mathematical savants. Making Election Day a national holiday would turn voting into a celebration of democracy. [23], Annie McDonald, Editor of the Berkeley Public Policy Journal, noted that the workers who are least likely to get paid holidays are those who already have less of a voice in the political process: Americans working in retail, hospitality, and service jobs, for example, would most likely not receive the benefit of a paid holiday to vote. Plus, some experts say moving to weekend voting could substantially increase the cost of running elections. ], [Editors Note: The MLA citation style requires double spacing within entries. ProCon/Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc. 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. Another positive: This would turn the day into a celebration of democracy. Heres what the Senate Majority Leader had to say about the notion earlier this week: Just what America needs, another paid holiday and a bunch of government workers being paid to go out and work for I assume . I also take umbrage with the idea that people who dont vote are doing something wrong. 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. What are the pros and cons of making Election Day a national Today, of course, holding the election on the first Tuesday of the month is deeply inconvenient for the vast majority of Americans, whether they work in an office, in food service, or on a farm, as they did in the olden days. What then to do about American elections? Election Day Mallory McMorrow (@MalloryMcMorrow) February 3, 2021. WebPros: A day will be marked on your calendar for voting. Because Saturday and Sunday are Sabbath days for devout Jews and Christians, elections would probably have to be held over the two-day period creating a need for more poll workers and a process for securing ballots overnight, Victoria Shineman, a University of Pittsburgh political science professor, wrote in The Washington Post. Pew Research Center found 71 percent of Democrats and 59 percent of Republicans support that. Not useful if people have strong opinions. WebAt the opening of Congress this past January, House Democrats introduced a proposal to make Election Day a national holiday. Bbc Sport Barcelona Transfer News, What Happened To Joe Mcelderry, Brian Askew Soccer, Is The Shameless House In A Dangerous Neighborhood, Ap Physics 1 Unit 5 Progress Check B, Articles P