Americans love holidays. We have holidays for eating turkey and holidays for watching football. We have holidays for giving to others and holidays for receiving gifts from mythical characters. There is a holiday that calls for wearing scary costumes. We have a holiday for throwing paper confetti, and a holiday for heart-shaped paper cards. We celebrate Moms, Dads and Grandparents too. We celebrate former presidents and beloved leaders of social change.
One can’t help but wonder why there is no federal holiday for elections. We have a day marked on the calendar, but that is all.
There is nothing special about Election Day. Mom and Dad still go to work during the day and rush home to escort their children to band practice and football tryouts.
With all the responsibilities shouldered by America’s working class, can there be any wonder as to why the idea of waiting in a long line on a normal working Tuesday would seem undesirable?
I am not suggesting that we should throw away yet another valuable workday in favor of a national holiday. I am also not suggesting that voter turnout would be significantly higher than it is now.
I am only suggesting that establishing consumer-friendly elections would be a step in the right direction. A federal holiday would eliminate competition with a mandatory workday and help prevent crowding in the late evening hours.
We already have several patriotic days steeped in American pride. Why not hold elections on one of these other established holidays? What about Presidents’ Day? Congress combined the birthdays of Presidents George Washington and Abraham Lincoln and “made the third Monday in February a day for honoring both Washington and Lincoln, as well as all the other men who have served as president.”
What better way could there be to celebrate Presidents’ Day than to participate in a time-honored tradition that appointed these two great men to the office of president?
