On average, only 50-60 percent of Americans vote during the presidential election. That’s about half of the country whose voices could be getting heard but aren't. In congressional elections, only 40% of the eligible voters vote -- and that’s just the national average. Some districts could only get as much as 26% of their voters to participate during the congressional election.
In states like my own, we have mail-in ballots that make the voting process a hell of a lot easier. With the mail-in system, we can use our own time to fill out our ballot at home and then drop it off at a local drop box. Pretty easy. In some states where they don’t have mail-in ballots, voting can take a lot of time out of the day. Election Day is always the first Tuesday after November 1st. A lot of people go to work, or they’re in school during the weekday. As a holiday, that means several millions of people would have the day off from work or school, making it way easier for people to use the day to do what we’re supposed to do: vote.
As for the rest of the world, the U.S. voter turnout falls behind most countries like Belgium, South Korea, and Sweden, ranking us 139 out of 172 countries. The countries ahead of the U.S. are also countries similar to us: industrialized and economically developed democratic nations. Although each country differs in registration and voting processes, they all have one thing in common: high voter turnout rates. These countries, including other countries such as France, Germany, and India, also have the day off as a holiday or hold elections on the weekend. It’s simple and it’s low-cost.
People would be more excited about voting, too. As a holiday, it’s won’t be looked at as just another day as it brings importance to the cause. I've seen a couple videos online of countries around the world on Election Day, and let me tell y'all: it looks fun and exciting. People were out on the streets literally celebrating, while here in America, people really aren't excited for it (as you can see by our turnout rates). Most people don’t vote for a variety of reasons, but a common reason is simply because they don’t care or think their voice is not being heard -- but really, voting is how you make change happen. This goes for any election when I say this, but you cannot complain about the way things are going, whether it’s at the national or local level, if you don’t vote. Your voice is important and can and will be heard if you vote.
Obviously, it would be impossible to get 100 percent of all of eligible-age citizens in the U.S. to vote. There are many other reasons why we have such low voter turnout rates in the U.S. There’s also arguably a lot of flaws in the registration and voting process that also might affect voter turnout rates. But for now, we have to start somewhere, and that first thing is making Election Day a federal holiday.
