Causes Of Election Day

One of the flaws in the American political system is the apathy shown by many citizens towards the power they have with elections. A famous quote from Thomas Jefferson states, “Cherish the spirit of your people and keep alive their attention . . . if once they become inattentive to public affairs, you and I, and Congress and Assemblies, Judges and Governors, shall all become wolves” (qtd. in Beinart 143). This quote means that when we as a country stop voting, we are giving up our right to have control over the decisions of our countries policies and lawmakers. If people are not voting, only a small select group of people are making the decisions for the whole country. WhyTuesday.org, notes that America ranks only 138th in voter turnout of

According to WhyTuesday.org, a website put together by a nonprofit organization who tries to raise awareness of the flaws in our voting process such as the day we vote, voting on Tuesdays is an outdated system which causes inconvenience to voters today. The American government decided to make Election Day on a Tuesday for the convenience for the farmers in the late 1800’s. As society has changed, WhyTuesday.org first suggests that Election Day should be held on a day more convenient for voters, such as a Saturday, to allow for a higher voter turnout. Then they also present the idea of making Election Day a federal holiday to allow more people to make it to the polls without having to worry about missing work. They state, “After the 2014 midterm elections, a staggering 69% of nonvoters didn’t cast a ballot because they were stuck at school or work, or were too busy, out of town, sick or forgot”. Changing the Election Day to either a weekend, or making it a holiday, would possibly be a good start to fixing this

Many people think that they are vulnerable to hacking, and they fear that the polls will be altered. Eugenio Martinez, a writer for Forbes Magazine, explored this topic and discovered how Venezuela sets up their elections. He states, “Venezuela employs one of the most technologically advanced verifiable voting systems in the world, designed to protect voters from fraud and tampering and ensure the accuracy of the vote count”. To assure accuracy, Venezuela goes through a specific process. After the voter casts their ballot, the machine prints a receipt that lists their choices, which they drop into a box for collecting later. Once the election is complete, officials randomly select poll locations to tally the boxes to ensure that the ballots all match up correctly. This ensures that no one has hacked into the system to change the