countries where election day is a national holiday

Modern life operates around the clock. Sweden came second with 82.6%. A cemetery posted a personal ad for a goose whose mate died. All rights reserved. Make Election Day a national holiday - Brookings That too is a reminder as to how new many of the ideas from that century, such as full enfranchisement and national self-determination, really are. [31]. Managing Editor Election Day (United States) - Wikipedia 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. Opponents say kids arent mature enough to vote. As for Denmark, it has a national liberation day and some people celebrate international worker's day, but neither is a public holiday. Is Election Day a Federal Holiday? - Newsweek A lot of people go to work, or they're in school during the weekday. TOP QUESTION We also know that countries that have marked their election days as federal events see higher voting turnouts than the United States. Election Day National Holiday - Top 3 Pros and Cons - ProCon.org 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. And even a number of the blue countries, such as Australia and Canada, are actually the product of colonialism. Concentrating voters into a single day risks congesting polling places, even more so than some already are. Making the presidential election a national holiday is another way to get people to the polls. Consider the potential benefits and difficulties of changing election day. Sunday: first Sunday of February for the President, Vice-President, and Legislative Assembly; second Sunday of February for municipal elections. ], ProCon.org, "Election Day National Holiday Top 3 Pros and Cons,", ProCon.org, "Election Day National Holiday Top 3 Pros and Cons. 4) The outliers are few but tell you a lot about those . - Vincent Hutchings, a University of Michigan political science professor, - Gil Troy, American presidential historian, 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, Joaquin Corbalan / EyeEm via Getty Images, as travel and communication improved in the 19th century, being too busy or having a conflicting schedule, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, substantially increase the cost of running elections, move that would make it easier for Americans to vote, The types of workers least likely to reap the benefits. 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. Election officials in various states have predicted historic levels of turnout in 2020, with a chance to reach the highest ever. Sundays are the most common day for elections, but this is less true in the Anglosphere; Saturdays are used in New Zealand and Australia, and weekdays for the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada. 1. It is the day when popular ballots are held to select public officials. Election Day in USA in 2023 | Office Holidays Other countries take heroic efforts to ensure that people can vote if they desire. This is why election day is not a holiday in Canada - blogTO This article was published more than10 years ago. 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. As old as all of these societies are, their senses of national identity are commemorated by remarkably recent events. A surprising map of the world's national holidays (only two countries South Korea and Israel hold theirs during the week, but have made the day a federal holiday. The US ranks 26th out of 32 for voter turnout among Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries. Third Monday of October every four years, or after Parliament is dissolved by the. Delaware, Hawaii, Kentucky, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, Rhode Island and New York have also made Election Day into a state holiday. 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. 27 September (Wednesday): Day of the French-speaking Community - commemorates the victory of the patriots against the Dutch army in Brussels in 1830. Some countries use electronic voting machines, such as India, while others rely on paper ballots, such as Zimbabwe. Compulsory voting does not necessarily guarantee 100% turnout rates, however, though they still see higher rates than countries which do not require it. Meanwhile, in Macedonia this past September, voters chose to stay away from the polls because of the proposed name change for the country. Why Election Day Isn't a National Holiday in the US - Business Insider Why Election Day Should Be A National Holiday Should the Voting Age Be Lowered to 16? Rose Marcario, CEO, stated, demonstrating your companys commitment to voting will reinforce how essential it is that every eligible voter shows up. 3 Countries Where It's Easier To Vote Than the United States 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. Given this, an Election Day holiday would remove a significant barrier to participation for relatively well-to-do potential voters while doing little to make voting easier for a significant. House Democrats introduced their first piece of legislation in the new Congress this week, an anti-corruption bill that proposes making Election Day a federal holiday and encourages . A large Democratic voting rights bill that would have made Election Day a national holiday collapsed in the Senate this year when two senators refused to join their own party in changing. After reading the pros and cons on this topic, has your thinking changed? Lists national days around the world by country or date. 25, 2016, Chris Talgo, "Make Election Day a National Holiday? [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. A number of bills like the Weekend Voting Act have been proposed in Congress over the years, often by Democrats. In the 2016 presidential election, 60% of the eligible voting population vast a vote; this year, a staggering 47.5%participated in the midterms, compared to 37% in 2014 and 41% in 2010, the years of other midterm elections. American election laws have been reformed before with minimal impact on voter turnout which remains low compared to other democracies around the world. 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. Consider how you felt about the issue before reading this article. [25], According to the AFL-CIO, 30 states require employers to allow employees time off for voting. Newsela | Should Election Day become a national holiday? [26] Caravanas are joyful, noisy parades of cars festooned with flags and other decorations that stream through Puerto Ricos streets ahead of an election and are credited with the islands over 80% voter turnout. Over the course of three days, Estonians could vote by placing their state-issued ID cards (which have an electronic chip . Should Election Day Be a Holiday? - The Atlantic 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. Tuesday is Election Day, but only in some parts of the country will voters get the day off to cast their ballots. 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. For rest of the festival holidays the declaration . Whether election day in the United States should be made a national holiday is debated. And some countries, like Australia, require people to vote by subjecting those who don't to a minor fine equivalent to a traffic ticket. 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. In a number of states, polling places have been closed in minority neighborhoods, which has created long lines and tremendous inconvenience for affected votersinconvenience with a cost, especially for those paid hourly wages. 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. "[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. About 54 percent of eligible voters cast their ballots in the 2012 presidential contest between Barack Obama and Republican Mitt Romney, according to the Pew Research Center. 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. Election Day in the United States is the annual day for general elections of federal public officials.It is statutorily set by the U.S. government as "the Tuesday next after the first Monday in November", i.e. Plus, some experts say moving to weekend voting could substantially increase the cost of running elections. 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). 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. It is set by statute as "the Tuesday next after the first Monday in the month of November.". Mr. CHRISTENSEN: One of the biggest countries that uses compulsory voting is Australia. 4) The outliers are few but tell you a lot about those countries. of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents and 59% of Republicans and GOP leaners said they would support making Election Day a national holiday. Nine states classify general elections as holidays: Florida, Hawaii, Maryland, Montana, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island and Virginia. Countries that hold the ballot before Sunday are not permitted to announce results until all other countries have finished voting. Election day or polling day is the day on which general elections are held. Election Day should be a national holiday - The GW Hatchet 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. Should Election Day in the U.S. be a national holiday? Voter turnout in the U.S. is generally quite low, trailing behind that of other developed democracies around the world, according to another Pew study. However, some countries, or regions within a country, which hold elections on a weekday declare election day a public holiday. [16]. Read More, Election Day is a holiday in Puerto Rico. Election results only announced for 1 of Nigeria's 36 states National Days around the world | Office Holidays