Do Americans want to make voting easier?
Critical Analysis
Find answers to the following questions using the visual above, any links below, your big brain, and your knowledge of American government and politics:
What percent of Americans want to make election day a national holiday?
Of the ten possible changes to make voting easier listed above, how many received the support of a majority of Americans?
Overall, do Americans want to make voting easier?
Americans generally believe that voting is an effective way to bring about positive change in the country. But in recent years, there have been contentious debates in a number of states over the rules around voting and elections. Describe the level of difficulty of voting in America.
Of the ten possible changes to make voting easier listed above, which do you support?
Based on the visual below* which of the ten possible changes to make voting easier listed enjoyed the most bipartisan (from both parties) support?
Based on the visual below* describe how political party affiliation impacted support for the ten possible changes to make voting easier listed above?
Explain why so many of the ten possible changes to make voting easier listed above which have broad support have not, in fact, been enacted in all states?
Many other democracies make election day a holiday and they all have higher voter turnout than we do. For example, Australia typically has a turnout in the 90 percent or more range, and other nations such as Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Costa Rica, and Mexico achieve very high turnout via universal voting and time off for voting. What do you think would happen to voter turnout if election day were a national election?
Election day is on a Tuesday in November because in the 1800s, most citizens worked as farmers and lived far from their polling place. Since people often traveled at least a day to vote, lawmakers needed to allow a two-day window for Election Day. Weekends were impractical, since most people spent Sundays in church, and Wednesday was market day for farmers. With this in mind, Tuesday was selected as the first and most convenient day of the week to hold elections. Farm culture also explains why Election Day always falls in November. Spring and early summer elections were thought to interfere with the planting season, and late summer and early fall elections overlapped with the harvest. That left the late fall month of November — after the harvest was complete, but before the arrival of harsh winter weather — as the best choice. If you could choose, what day would you make national election day?
Write and Discuss
Take ten minutes to write about the question at the top of the page and then discuss with your classmates.
Act on your Learning
Making Election Day a holiday would not necessarily involve adding a new holiday, which employers might resist. Instead, lawmakers could simply move nearby Veterans’ Day to Election Day, emphasizing that voting is both a service to the country and a celebration of the rights and freedoms for which our servicemembers fight. Veteran’s Day typically is about one week after Election Day so this would involve little disruption in terms of job schedules and monthly routines. Contact your congressional representative and let them know what you think about a national election day.
Get Creative
If American voters were a character from a movie or tv show, who would they be?