PROBABLY:
On Tuesday, November 3rd, 2026, 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.
WHAT IS WRONG WITH TUESDAY?
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.
Last year during the 2024 presidential election there were about 245 million U.S. citizens eligible to vote. About 90 million did not. In the last four presidential elections between 59% to 64% of those eligible actually voted; pathetic, disgusting, incredible and unacceptable. Free and honest elections is one of the cornerstones of our republic.
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 the act of reaffirming that we care about our democracy. It is both a right and a responsibility.
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 U.S. 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 across the country in 1845. By November, the crops were in and the majority of agrarian voters had time on their hands; hence November elections.
Today, most folks are a little busier on a Tuesday in November than they were in 1845. So busy that about 90 million find a reason not to vote; too busy, polls closed too early, traffic was bad, no one to watch over the kids, lines were too long, just don’t care, etc.
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.
WHAT TO DO?
Changing election day from Tuesday to Saturday or Sunday could eliminate some of the lame excuses but, just specifying the weekend 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.
But the lingering question is, why just one day? Why not an election weekend and an election holiday on Monday? Congress could/should designate the first full weekend in November for national elections. In 2026 that will be 7-8 November with the holiday on Monday the 9th. With that, the excuses go away and at least some of the 90 million will surely make the effort to vote.
WHAT ELSE?
While we are re-doing the election-days 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 conduct exit polling at voting sites all across the country and then see who can be first to declare a probable winner.
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.
A reasonable solution could be that if the polls close at 7 pm on Monday in Hawaii, the results across the continental U.S. could be released early in the morning on Tuesday.
To fix this, simply add a sentence to the new law stating that, “No election result data, actual or perceived by any calculations of any kind from any election source, official or unofficial, will be released until the polls are closed in Hawaii on Monday of the election weekend.”
CONCLUSIONS
True, we all WANT to know the projected winners as soon as possible. Also true, there is absolutely zero NEED to know before all the polls have closed.
This whole Tuesday-only election-day nonsense is out dated.
Also, a multi-day election solution is just plain common sense.
Some will claim that adding a new federal holiday will be one too many. If so, then just eliminate Columbus Day, it’s not very important anyway.
BOTTOM LINE
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 many people in the world; we should feel obligated to act out that privilege. Voting is a RESPONSIBILITY; freedom isn’t free and voting is a small price to pay.
The White House staff should write it up, President Trump should advertise it with a national address and Congress should bury the hatchet for once and all vote “yes.”