Is it time to make Election Day a federal holiday? 🗳️ Some say it would boost voter turnout and align the U.S. with other democracies, while others argue it could create challenges for hourly workers and cost millions. Dive into the debate over whether a federal voting holiday is the best way to strengthen democracy or if there are better solutions. Check out the full breakdown!
This isn’t about making sure businesses make more money. It’s about incentivizing people to vote.
My business gave extra time off to people who got Covid vaccines because it incentivizes people to do something that’s good for them and for society. For people who were already getting the vaccines it was a bonus day, and it gave the push for people on the fence.
It should be the same with voting. The reality is most people do have the opportunity to vote, but choose not to take the time to do it. An extra holiday won’t change that.
Giving them an extra day off no-strings attached is a good thing. They should get an extra month. But if we are specifically trying to get people to vote, then that particular day off should come with strings just like my vaccine day.
Your response to me saying how cucked we are here with regards to employee rights is this?
Wow, how magnanimous of them! I’m sure that having a vaccinated work force during a global pandemic that was killing millions to prevent your employees from dropping like flies had nothing to do with it… They just wanted to give you guys that “bonus” day. How sweet of them.
Yeah - how dare they do something that’s good for the employees AND their bottom line! The nerve!
Though actually not true because I work in municipal government where there is no profit or shareholders. If we get extra money it goes into things like overdue infrastructure repair.
It’s not good for all employees, only the ones who vote.
Makes me think of the people who want to enforce drug testing on welfare recipients. Costs more money to enforce than if they had just given them the benefits in the first place. But then we would be giving it to “people who ‘shouldn’t’ have it,” or “don’t deserve it,” and we just can’t have that can we?
It’s just a bullshit worldview.
Give everyone the day off, encourage voting and make sure that they know that it’s literally the reason they have that day off from work. Because of the people that were voted in, etc. Show them how important it is… Then hope they vote. Change the culture around it.
Again, unless you want to do it like Australia and make it compulsory.
Other than that, you’re literally just wasting money just to make sure a bunch of people don’t have off work who (you deem) “don’t deserve it.” Nah, fuck all that. Just let people enjoy their fucking life, Jesus Christ.
Edit: now that I think about it… I have to wonder how you’d feel if this were a religious holiday, and only the people who observe (and we’re talking, go to services, etc.) and can prove it, get those days off… Sorry atheists and agnostics, no Christmas or Easter holidays for you. And only the kids of the practicing Jews get off school for Ros Hashanah.
Or to keep it secular, only black people should get off for Martin Luther King Day right? Or to be even more specific, black Americans who are descendants of slaves. If you cannot prove that, sorry, no MLK Day for you.
Let’s just start an entire new federal agency meant to confirm that only the people who are associated with each holiday can get that day off. Because there’s gonna be a whole lot of paperwork. Lots of jobs though, I guess!
Yeah. That’s how incentives work.
There’s government incentives to buy electric cars. My car isn’t electric so I don’t get to take advantage of them.
If people are essentially being paid to vote, they should vote. It’s not that complicated.
A national holiday isn’t an incentive, it’s just the opportunity. The incentive would be a separate undertaking.
And that’s the fundamental problem with your point of view here. In no universe should making election day a national holiday be considered “paying people to vote.” It’s not a transaction.
I would love to hear about why my atheist ass should have off for Easter when I don’t celebrate shit that day. Or why my white ass should have off for MLK Day or Juneteenth (oh look, they can make new holidays and it turns out it’s not that big of a fucking deal).
I mean, I know why it doesn’t work that way as well, but that’s a different conversation. I would just like to understand how you square that up in your mind.
You’re looking it as a holiday. That’s not what it is. Not energy type of leave gets used by everyone.
I don’t have any children and never will, so I don’t get paternity leave that I 100% support being given to others.
I have been injured on the job and taken paid leave for recovery that others didn’t get to take.
Is this literally not what this entire post was about? About making Election Day a National Holiday?
What you want to make it is something else entirely. Sounds like you want “paid leave to vote”. These are two very different things as I think we’ve covered.
Obviously, either one would be better than what we have. But I just think making it a holiday is a much better/easier/cheaper solution, and its win/win/win. I see zero downsides with it that do not involve corporate profits.
The downside is it probably won’t significantly increase voter turnout. People hate voting negative of long lines. Giving everyone the same day off to vote would just make it that much worse.
Very few people can honestly say that the lack of a voter holiday is the reason they don’t vote.
I live in Texas, where voting is famously difficult, but even I have 5 separate locations whets I can vote 7 days a week during early voting. The 21st through the 27th available times are Monday through Friday 8-5, Saturday 7-7, and Sunday is 9-3. The 28th thriving the first is 7-7.
During those time periods it’s rare to have a line at all, and there’s a ton of groups that will take you to the polling station if you don’t have transportation.
If someone is too lazy to take 10 minutes to vote during early voting, giving them a day off on election day won’t change their behavior.
If the goal is to just give people another day off, that’s fine. Just say that. If the goal is to get people to vote, you should tie the benefit to voting.