countries where election day is a national holiday
Some countries, including Belgium and Turkey, see such high voter turnout mainly because of their compulsory voting laws. 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. Some countries, about 27 of them,make voting compulsory. Election day is a national holiday. We're familiar with how voting works in the U.S.when we vote, how we vote, who we vote forbut do you know what voting is like in other countries around the world? [17] Countries such as France, Mexico, and India also observe federal holidays for elections. By comparison,. Until 2009, elections were held over several consecutive Sundays. And even a number of the blue countries, such as Australia and Canada, are actually the product of colonialism. 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. 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. Britain, after all, developed its political institutions pretty gradually, so there was no real "Bastille Day" moment that defines the modern nation. This map, inspired by a Reddit thread with a similar map, shows the national days of the world's countries. Understanding what happened in the Chicago mayoral race. 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. In 2018, the general election was held on Wednesday. 4) The outliers are few but tell you a lot about those . Last week his office released a list of voting rights provisions he would support. Skip Navigation 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. Elections to the Bundestag may be held on another public holiday. But while . 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. October 26, 2020 / 10:57 AM Some say a holiday would increase voter turnout by enabling more people to vote while celebrating democracy. Martin Luther King Jr. Day Washington's Birthday Memorial Day Flag Day Independence Day Constitution Day Election Day Veterans Day Bill of Rights Day Martin Luther King Jr. Day Martin Luther King, Jr. Day takes place on third Monday of January each year, near the time of Dr. King's birthday on January 15th. 1. Some countries use electronic voting machines, such as India, while others rely on paper ballots, such as Zimbabwe. The U.S. ranks 26th out of 32 for voter among Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development countries. For more on the debate about making election day a national holiday, visit ProCon.org. "I'm not a fan," said Eddie Perez, an election administration and election technology expert at the Open Source Election Technology (OSET) Institute. The US isn't the only developed country that faces this criticism, however. Vanita Gupta, CEO of the Leadership Conference on Human and Civil Rights, is working to increase voter participation and decrease voter disenfranchisement. People literally cannot get to the polling booth because it may close at 7 o'clock and they're working later. Not only would making Election Day a federal holiday increase voter turnout among Americans, which is something that politicians and citizens in general complain about often, but it . Countries that hold the ballot before Sunday are not permitted to announce results until all other countries have finished voting. Rose Marcario, CEO, stated, demonstrating your companys commitment to voting will reinforce how essential it is that every eligible voter shows up. "And we actually have more options than ever before.". ProCon/Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc. As for Denmark, it has a national liberation day and some people celebrate international worker's day, but neither is a public holiday. Essential reporting and analysis from correspondents around the world. 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. For example, in Ecuador, only literate citizens between 18 and 65 are required to vote; those over 65 or who are not literateare not required. 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. 1. 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. We are very proud that we are mentioned in the Bible. Most National Days are fixed, exceptions to this are shown below. President Obama likes the idea of changing the way or the day Americans vote. So, since this effort does not receive bipartisan support, it is difficult to enact.. In previous elections, that percentage was even higher. Experts told CBS News that it's no coincidence this is occurring in a year when Americans have more time and more ways to vote than ever before. 22 June 1986, 29 October 1989, 6 June 1993, 3 March 1996, 12 March 2000, 14 March 2004, 9 March 2008, 20 November 2011, 20 December 2015, 26 June 2016. They stated, Citizen Day would do more than give our democracy the honor that it deserves; it would help our democracy work better. Rather, federal elections are held on the third Monday of October, every four years . In an interview with President Barack Obama in 2016, Dan Corey, editor-in-chief of Rutgers University's official student newspaper, The Daily Targum, asked Obama about what could be done to reverse the US's low voter turnout: The Daily Targum: "You have pointed out many times that voter turnout in the United States is very low, especially compared to other developed nations. Proper citation depends on your preferred or required style manual. 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. Will the party listen to them on the issues? Again, it is not clear that this is demonstrably true but it is a widespread perception. [28][29], Patagonia, an outdoor clothing retailer, paused operation on Nov. 6, 2018 so that all employees could vote. These efforts challenge fundamental values of American democracy and constitute a serious threat to the one person, one vote principle. the Tuesday that occurs within November 2 to November 8. Traditionally elections are held over two days, starting on a Friday afternoon and ending the following Saturday afternoon. Maybe that could give us some hint as to the frequent foreign sensitivities and accusations, right or wrong, about Western foreign policy echoing old colonial practices. From 2021, the first Sunday of June. Copyright 2023 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. Sweden came second with 82.6%. February 26, 2023, 5:06 AM. Election Day is not a national holiday in 2022, but some states require employees get paid time off to vote. [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. as well as other partner offers and accept our. Do you think it's time for the US to follow their lead? ABUJA, Nigeria -- Nigeria's election commission announced the first results late Sunday from the country's closely watched presidential election, but it could days . Most others are not so recent, but still not so old: Taiwan's, for example, goes back to a 1911 uprising. For rest of the festival holidays the declaration . In Estonia, a national ID card (required for every citizen in the country) can be used to vote remotely. [36]. Rupak De Chowdhuri/Reuters. 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. 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. 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. According to the country's website detailing their "digital society," online voting has soared from 1.9% in 2005 to 30.5% in 2015. Monday in early September. And in Australia, there is a fine. List two to three ways. Keep in mind that in the mid-1800s, the U.S. was largely an agricultural society. US voter turnout trails most developed countries. 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. Such a change would mostly benefit white-collar workers instead of the lower-income workers its designed to help. "Election Day as a national holiday would mean things like perhaps reduced schedules for public transportation, schools being closed, hourly workers perhaps being incentivized to work more with time and a half. So the question of how you label Ireland goes back to which holiday you consider its national day. Some countries, about 27 of them, make voting compulsory. 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. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). In-person polls open Sunday at 12:01am, close Saturday at 11:59pm. However, some countries, or regions within a country, which hold elections on a weekday declare election day a public holiday. South Korea and Israel hold theirs during the week, but have made the day a federal holiday. But some election analysts told CBS News that making Election Day a holiday is not a way to make voting easier. 2023 BuzzFeed, Inc. All rights reserved. [2] Sundays were for rest and worship, and on Wednesdays farmers typically sold their crops at the market, making Tuesdays the best day of the week. Making the presidential election a national holiday is another way to get people to the polls. Such low voter turnout rates in the United States have various reasons why many Americans decide not to vote, but one main reason is not giving them time to vote and cast their ballots. Like Perez, Becker thinks giving voters more time and opportunity to vote is the best approach. Omissions? Mr. CHRISTENSEN: One of the biggest countries that uses compulsory voting is Australia. So, focusing voting efforts to one day doesn't do enough to accommodate everyone, Becker argues. [8][15] A holiday for elections sidesteps the issue of a weekend election, which could conflict with religious obligations. Sunday. 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. 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 . 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. The COVID-19 pandemic convinced. Could that ever happen in the U.S.? Others say a holiday would disadvantage low-income and blue collar workers and corporations should have better policies for voting time off. It's amazing how much of the map is green, indicating countries that celebrate a national independence day every year. 2 men found drugged after leaving NYC gay bars were killed, medical examiner says, Battleground Tracker: Tight race in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Lindsey Graham appears before Georgia grand jury, House Jan. 6 committee is having conversations with Justice Department, Georgia grand jury investigating Trump wants testimony from Giuliani, Graham, Trump election interference grand jury to hear from Raffensperger, DHS IG says Wolf changed intel report on Russian interference in 2020. Other countries take heroic efforts to ensure that people can vote if they desire. Have you experienced an election day in another country, or do you know how voting works in a place we haven't mentioned here? American election laws have been reformed before with minimal impact on voter turnout which remains low compared to other democracies around the world. 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. Third Monday of October every four years, or after Parliament is dissolved by the. 26K views, 1.2K likes, 65 loves, 454 comments, 23 shares, Facebook Watch Videos from Citizen TV Kenya: #FridayNight We are the only advanced democracy that makes it deliberately difficult for people to vote. Its hard to say. 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. 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. We also know that countries that have marked their election days as federal events see higher voting turnouts than the United States. "While this would not be a cure-all, it would indicate a national commitment to create a more vibrant democracy.". Fourth Sunday of October immediately before the end of the current mandates. As you can see, the world is mostly divided between countries that celebrate a national independence day and countries that celebrate a national unification or revolution day. Plus, some experts say moving to weekend voting could substantially increase the cost of running elections. 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. [8], In the 2016 presidential election, 55.7% of the American voting-age population cast a ballot. 5. https://www.britannica.com/question/Should-election-day-be-made-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. He says it's more important to spread voting out over a period of days and methods. All 435 representatives were up for re-election, as well as a third ofsenators, and countless elections for governors, mayors, state legislators, and local government across the country. 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. 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. "We already know how to make voting convenient to voters that's by offering them options, like making an election season rather than election day," he said. 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. "Election Day National Holiday Top 3 Pros and Cons." Canada's turnout is about the same as the United States', with an average of 68%, and though one canton in Switzerland has a compulsory voting law, for the country as a whole turnout is around 49%, one of the lowest rates in OECD countries. Americans are working all the time. Sunday: first Sunday of February for the President, Vice-President, and Legislative Assembly; second Sunday of February for municipal elections. Consider the pandemic, which has not given essential workers more time off. For other uses, see. Many other democracies make election day a holiday and they all have higher voter turnout than we do. I am from Malta - a tiny EU island nation and today we celebrate the shipwreck of St. Paul on our island. In theory, it seems that any move that would make it easier for Americans to vote would increase participation. However, for the most part, most countries vote in person at the voting booth, and while countries may alter the length of election periods andthe equipment used in voting from election to election, it still tends to have many of the same features. According to the Pew Research Center, of the thirty-six nations in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the U.S. is one of nine that votes on a week day, and one of seven that doesn't designate election day a national holiday. ], ProCon.org, "Election Day National Holiday Top 3 Pros and Cons,", ProCon.org, "Election Day National Holiday Top 3 Pros and Cons. / CBS News. Would making Election Day a federal holiday increase voter turnout and celebrate democracy? In Sweden, for example, 83% of registered voters participated in the 2014 national . 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. 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. Some say a holiday would increase voter turnout by enabling more people to vote while celebrating democracy. A lot of people go to work, or they're in school during the weekday. Voters in more than one-third of the country enjoy some form of an Election Day holiday, according to RepresentUs. The name change required at least 50% voter participation, and opponents to the name change advocated not voting at all rather than voting against the measure. Should People Who Have Completed Felony Sentences Be Allowed to Vote? The U.S. House of Representatives just passed H.R. [ 18][ 19] Con 1 Countries like Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Costa Rica, and Mexico also showed high voter turnout rates by having holidays. Voter turnout in the United States is usually considered low, especially in years without a presidential election. [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. South Africa's is from the first democratic elections, in 1994. Passing voting rights reform will be a crucial component of this response, as would making Election Day a national holiday. Four more states only provide time off for biennial, even-year elections: Delaware, Louisiana, Michigan and New Hampshire. 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. Usually Wednesday. 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. Should Election Day be a national holiday? 2) Most other countries are shaped by relatively recent revolutions. A number of bills like the Weekend Voting Act have been proposed in Congress over the years, often by Democrats. All rights reserved. [16]. 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. 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. A National Day is a date for a country to celebrate its nationhood.