New National Holiday: Implementing Election Day as a Holiday

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A democracy is a type of government in which the people rule; it is adopted by many countries across the world (Kollman, 2012: 25). One way people influence the government is by actively participating in elections and nominating individuals whom they wish would serve the country. These people – government servants: mayors, senators, presidents, etc. - represent the people and their ideologies. Some countries honor the election system more than others and The United States of America is one of them. This is why voter turnout is important and has become an issue addressed by many political parties and their candidates with The United States having one of the lowest turnouts. There are many components that factor into this decline but the most important one is the time and more specifically the day elections take place (Shaw, 2014). I believe that in order to stress the importance of electing officials and encouraging citizens of the states to vote, Election day should be declared a national holiday and be moved from Tuesdays to Mondays (Kollman, 2012: 330). Time management is not an easy thing to accomplish, especially in the United States. Everyone is constantly in motion trying to get things done and the limited time frame they have to work with. Therefore, the priority one task holds falls within the time frame it can be taken care of in. This is why many people do not vote. When looking at the data from 2012 election in Texas, the hours when one could cast a vote during the primaries, run off and general election was seven in the morning to seven in the evening on Tuesdays (“2012 Polling Hours”). Times like these are what prevent the voting turnout from increasing over the years. As stated in the book, voting involves making ot... ... middle of paper ... ...al schedule but if their entire day is devoted to a single cause, the level of importance gets a significant boost. Another reason behind why this will be a good strategy for the government is that it will allow people to put aside their careers and have time to go out and vote. The time will no longer be an issue because people will not be working or in school that day and therefore, will have time to take care of their votes. Thus, this is possible and should be considered by many. Works Cited Ken Kollman, The American Political System, (New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 2012), 25, 322-323, 330, 449. Shaw, Daron. April 7, 2014 (9:00 a.m.), Lecture on Voting and Elections. McDaniel, Eric. April 7, 2014 (9:00 a.m.), Lecture on Voting and Elections. "2012 Polling Hours,” last modified January 22, 2014, http://www.thegreenpapers.com/G12/PollingHours.phtml.

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