On Tuesday, November 6th, tens of millions of Americans will get up, hurry around, get the kids off to school, fight the traffic getting to work and work a long day. And many will conclude they cannot find the time to vote.
Given the importance of a federal election, one would think we, collectively, should do everything possible to get every eligible voter excited about going to the poles. But, we don’t.
Two years ago, during the 2016 presidential election, there were about 240 million US citizens eligible to vote. About 58% of them did vote. About 100 million did not; pathetic, disgusting, incredible or all of the above.
That voting record speaks volumes about how much we take for granted. A democracy needs maintenance, some TLC and attention if it is to thrive and survive. Voting is a civic duty. Voting is the act of reaffirming that we care about our democracy.
Our Constitution (article 1, section 4) specifically gives congress the power to regulate the, “Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections.”
In 1845 congress passed a federal law designating, “the first Tuesday following the first Monday in November” as the time for Federal elections. In 1845 most of the US population was agrarian and it was not uncommon for farmers to have an all-day round trip by horse and wagon to reach a polling place.
Why November? Why not April or July or January. In most of the country the weather can be bad in the winter. Spring planting as well as summer and early fall harvesting were very busy times. By November, the crops were in and the majority of agrarian voters had time on there hands; hence November elections.
Today, most folks are a little busier on a Tuesday in November than they were in 1845. So busy that 42% find a reason not to vote; too busy, polls closed too early, traffic was bad, lines were too long.
Common sense says we need to take away those excuses. All it will take to fix it is a new one-paragraph law passed by congress.
One approach is to simply change election day to the first or second Sunday in November. Open the poles for 12 hours and there is still plenty of time to attend church.
But, just specifying “Sunday” is still not perfect. The Bureau of Labor statistics, says about 34% of Americans work on the weekends. To overcome weekend work, the new law could make Federal Election Day an official national holiday and specify that everything except “essential services” be closed.
There will be those who will say that voting interferes with church services. If that is a valid objection, make the Federal Election Day fall on the first or second Monday in November. Keep it simple but take away the excuses from the 100 million who are currently not making the effort to vote.
While we are re-doing the election-day law, there is another issue that needs to be fixed and it can be done with a simple sentence.
Currently, as the hours pass during election day, media sources go to elaborate ends to be the first to “declare” a certain candidate the winner. This begins early and goes on endlessly until all the contests are resolved.
So, what is wrong with that? What is wrong is that as the polls close on the east coast and winners of a national contest are projected, this is a potential disincentive for those on the west coast to vote. “Why should I vote, the decision has already been made,” they will say.
To fix this, simply add a sentence to the new law stating that, “no data or election information of any kind from any election or official source will be released until the polls are closed in Hawaii” (or perhaps Guam). If the polls close in Hawaii at 7 pm, that would be 1 am on the east coast.
True, we all WANT to know the projected winners as soon as possible. Also true, we do not NEED to know before all the polls have closed.
Voting is a RIGHT; hundreds of thousands of Americans died during the Civil War fighting for everyone’s’ right to vote. Voting is a PRIVILEGE not afforded to most people in the world; we should feel obliged to act out that privilege. Voting is a RESPONSIBILITY; freedom isn’t free and voting is a small price to pay.