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The results are in in the Common Iowan poll asking if election day should be a national holiday. With 45 votes, 35 people (78%) said yes it should, compared to just 10 (22%) that said it should not. That is pretty much the results that I exected.
The postives of election day is that people don't have to find time in their workday to go and vote. Also, people can volunteer as poll workers and work to get people out to vote without having to take the day off of work. I know a lot of people who did this.
The negatives are that people would use this day as just an old vacation day. Some would take Monday off as well and have a 4 day weekend. One reader of this blog said that there are a lot of other ways to increase turnout such as longer poll hours, poll locations, and voting by at home.
I will get a new poll up when I get home from work tonight.
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
Election Day should be a National Holiday
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3 comments:
If we can't make it a national holiday, is it possible for the Iowa Legislature to pass a law making it a state holiday? If Mississippi can declare Robert E. Lee day (on the same day as Martin Luther King Jr. day, no joke), Iowa should at least be able to declare a day off for election day.
I think it wouldn't be a bad idea to make the day of the Iowa caucuses a national holiday. Going to the polls to vote is less time consuming than going to a the caucuses.
Absentee ballots should always be counted no matter what, not just in close races. I feel that is the way you are going to increase voter turn out. That way lazy people, busy people, handicapped people, ect, can vote. Instead of making election day a holiday, perhaps make it so companies are encouraged to allow employees to go volunteer and as long as they show proof they helped, let them get a paid day off. I don't really know if that would work though.
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