Should Election Day be a National Holiday?

No matter what side of the political spectrum you fall on, it is important to go out and make your voice heard by voting.

The 2020 election is approaching and with so many candidates vying for the democratic spot to run against Donald Trump, we need to do our civic duty and vote now more than ever. Yet, many Americans don’t go out and cast their ballot. According to an article on


The Washington Post


, “Roughly 43 percent of eligible voters didn’t bother filling out a ballot this year, according to turnout estimates from the U.S. Elections Project. To look at it another way, the people who could have voted but chose not to vastly outnumbered those who cast a vote for Clinton, Trump or a third-party candidate.”

Several factors come into play when it comes to why people don’t get themselves to the polls. For some people it is very difficult. Work schedules and school schedules are one of the big reasons why people skip voting. For these reasons, there have even been proposals for making Election Day a federal holiday. According to


CNBC


, Democrats have introduced a bill this January to make Election Day a national holiday, and more than two thirds of Americans polled by Pew Research have supported the idea. If this bill were to be passed, many businesses would likely be closed, which would relieve the burden of finding the time and availability to vote.

The downfall to this, however, is that people who work retail or food service might be working in places that don’t recognize federal holidays. So one step further would be to perhaps conduct elections on a weekend when people generally might have more time in their schedules.

Overall, voting is one of the most important things a person can do to make their voice heard and get people into office that support their values. In order to do this, people need to have the time and ability to vote, and making Election Day a federal holiday could be a step in the right direction.