Election and federal holidays

Election and federal holidays

1. Introduction

According to Bell et al. (2019), the United States conducts its elections on Tuesday, which is the first Tuesday of November. The presidential elections in the United States are quite vital as it gives the country a new leader. The date was by federal lawmakers, and it has been used since 1845 when the first presidential election was held. The lawmakers chose the date to avoid conflicts with religious leaders and allow farmers and business people to travel comfortably. Since then, there has been concern over making Election Day a federal holiday that will allow all voters to practice their democratic rights. Due to such matters, senator Bernie sanders drafted a bill that aimed at introducing a federal holiday on Election Day. According to him, the act will allow Americans to enjoy their democracy and allow people to participate in the election. Although that will not be the cure, it will signal a national commitment to the election process of the country. The next presidential election in the United States will take place on the 3^rd of November 2020. This paper will thus look at the applicability of federal holidays during election days and how they will affect the politics and economy of the country.

3. literature review

Since the first Tuesday of November, as chosen as Election Day for the presidential election, voter turnout has lagged behind those of other developed countries.  Some people claim that the lagging is due to the poor timing that was done on the polling date. The date does not allow people to vote due to their involvement in jobs. It is estimated that 57.5% of the eligible voters in the United States were involved in voting during the 2012 presidential election. This is due to the barriers created by the date set by the constitution. There have been researches done on whether Election Day be made a federal holiday or not. The data acquired from such studies show that the citizens of the United States are supporting the introduction of a federal holiday on Election Day. More than 65% of the people involved in the researches support the idea of what is the implication of introducing such a day?

Introducing a federal holiday on the day of election has both positive and negative implications for the United States of America. Introducing a federal holiday will allow more people to vote and thus increase the voter turnout. According to the 2016 presidential election, only 55.7% of the eligible voters cast their votes. This has ranked the United States as number 26 out of 32 countries of OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development). It was highlighted that the results were due to conflicting schedules that made voters not to turn in for voting that day. This has increased the demands for a federal holiday on that day. As such, all the eyes are put on the Congress to enact a law that will allow Election Day to be a federal holiday.

The practice of allocating a national holiday on Election Day has been practiced by other countries like Australia, France, Singapore, Israel, India, and Mexico. Giving such a day will thus put the united states in per with other countries practicing the same form of governance. This will enable people to avoid economic hardships during the day and thus participate in voting. This will mean that more voters will participate in the election and thus express their patriotic views on the ballot.

Another benefit of giving a public holiday on Election Day is that people will celebrate their democracy. This will create the notion that voting is a celebration, and thus every person eligible for voting will participate in the election. This will there increase the voters’ turn out. Some people argue that giving the Election Day a federal holiday will be an honor for the democracy in the united states and thus will be celebrated accordingly and will help democracy to improve and work better for people of the country (Bradfield & Johnson 2017).

Chiu (2019) argues that though the act of giving Election Day a federal holiday has benefits, it is a disadvantage to the low-income earners and those employed in the private sector. The constitution does not allow private employers to allow paid holidays to the employees. This will be a discouragement to the works as they will not earn their living that day. As such, most of the employees from the private sector will opt for other opportunities that will create income for them. Allocating a federal holiday on Election Day will thus not improves the voting status to align the United States with other countries but will reduce the voters’ turnout.

The bill to make the election a federal holiday was first introduced in Congress in 2002. Since then, polls have been conducted to determine the views of the citizens on Election Day being a federal holiday. The results show that more than half of the citizens support the idea. The data is distributed across all ages and genders. Avery race of the United States supports the idea with the majority who are supporting the idea being white with a percentage of 68%. These studies have included religion, gender, race, region, level of education, and age as the guiding factors for their research. The results of the reviews are that all the categories support the idea of having a federal holiday during Election Day.

Two companies did the study, namely HarrisX polling company and Hill TV, found that 54% of the voters support Election Day is a federal holiday that everyone will get a day off from his or her daily job duties. The polls also showed that the idea is supported by 63% of the Democrats’ representatives in Congress, while 48% of the Republicans agreed to the plan. A fifty-fifty share is shown by the independents who share an equal percentage on the same. According to these polls, there is a clear indication that the citizens support the idea of including the election day as a federal holiday that will allow citizens to cast their votes (Moeller & King 2018).

4. Hypotheses

The idea of creating a federal holiday on the day of presidential elections has been discussed and researched upon for some years. The idea behind this researches is to determine how citizens view the issue of including the second Tuesday of November as a federal holiday. The demand for including this day as a federal holiday is due to decreasing voter turnout that has been experienced in the United States over the years. There is a need to solve the problem and encourage people to participate in exercising their democratic duties. The idea is “should Election Day be a federal holiday by law, or it should not be included as a public holiday in the calendar of the United States?” this can be answered by a study that will engage age, race, gender, and religion in estimating how people take view of introducing a federal holiday on the day of election (Morrison et al. 2018). The study will highlight the races that support or do not support the idea, what are the view of various religious organizations on the same issue, which gender supports the idea more and the age limits of people who do not support election being a public holiday.

In an attempt to make this day a federal holiday, several considerations have to be made. First, what will be the influence of the day to voter turnout during the election period? Is there any economic implication of the act of giving a federal holiday to the workers? If there are implications, how can the employees and employers solve the financial implications to avoid affecting the economy of the country? Can be any other chances that can make people not to take part in the indented activity? What is the estimated voter turnout that will participate in the election? What will be the cost of conducting an election with increased voter turnout? All these are considerations that Congress and the federal government should consider before making Election Day a federal holiday (Teeter 2019).

5. Motivation

Before introducing a law, there is a need to gather information and the views of citizens. As such, any research is motivated by the disease to involve citizens in decision making and the process of legislation. This is because laws affect the operation and daily life of the people and not the government. As such seeking public opinion will be the driving force of the study.

6. Experimental design

The experiment will be meant to indicate the percentages which support or do not support Election Day becoming a federal holiday. As such, a framing experiment will be done on the study. The experiment will include the age of participants, gender, religion, and race. This will show how they compare in terms of supporting the idea. The question to be included in the experiment include:

7. Method of data analysis

Quantitative data analysis will be used in the study to estimate the numbers and percentages of people supporting Election Day, becoming a federal holiday. It will also compare how the data acquired compares in the various categories used and what the data represents. This will help in concluding the support given by different groups of people on the issue of creating a federal holiday on the day of the election. Statistical data analysis will also be included in the analysis as it will analyze, present, and interpret the data to meaningful conclusions (Rodriguez 2019).

8. Conclusion

There have been numerous attempts to include the day of the election as a federal holiday in the calendar of the United States. Numerous studies have been to determine how citizens take the idea, and the studies have shown that many of the citizens support the move that the government indents to take. There is a widespread belief that the act will increase voter turnout in the United States, and thus more people will participate in the election process. As such more research should be done to determine the views and how the day will affect politics of the united states of American and the economy of the country. This is because the two sectors are essential in the continuity of the country and political supremacy in the world.

9. Appendix

Experiments on age will aim at highlighting the age difference that does not or do support Election Day becoming a public holiday. The participants will be required to state their age brackets as given in the outcome question. What is your age limit? 18-24, 25-30, 31-40, 41-50, 51-60, 61-70, 71-80, 81 and above.

The United States comprises much race that includes whites, Indians, black Americans, whites, and indigenous Americans. This will be aimed at identifying the races that support the idea. The participants will be required to state their race.

Gender is another issue that has raised contradictions over the years. The experiment will highlight the gender that supports the ideas more and compare them to the other gender.

There are numerous religious beliefs in the country, and thus the participants will be required to highlight their religion and provide their views on Election Day being a federal holiday.

10. Bibliography

Bell, J., Heil, A., & Reynolds, C. (2019). Voting in the United States: How Socioeconomic Status Influenced Voter Turnout in the 2008 Presidential Election.

Bradfield, C., & Johnson, P. (2017). The Effect of Making Election Day a Holiday: An Original Survey and a Case Study of French Presidential Elections Applied to the US Voting System. Sigma: Journal of Political and International Studies, 34(1), 4.

Chiu, C. N. (2019). Holiday effects on stock prices of the restaurant industry. Current Issues in Tourism, 1-13.

https://thehill.com/hilltv/what-americas-thinking/415065-majority-say-election-day-should-be-a-federal-holiday-poll

https://thetylt.com/politics/should-election-day-be-a-federal-holiday

Moeller, J., & King, R. F. (2018). Conclusion: The Expansion and Contraction of Democratic Rights. Removal of the Property Qualification for Voting in the United States (pp. 129-137). Routledge.

Morrison, C. N., Ukert, B., Palumbo, A., Dong, B., Jacoby, S. F., & Wiebe, D. J. (2018). Assaults on days of campaign rallies during the 2016 US presidential election. Epidemiology, 29(4), 490-493.

Rodriguez Jr, J. (2019). A Program Proposal to Address Electoral Inequities in the United States (Doctoral dissertation).

Teeter, H. (2019). A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF VOTER PARTICIPATION IN THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY AND THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: DIFFERENCES BETWEEN TWO WESTERN ELECTION CULTURES.