You are also agreeing to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Most National Days are fixed, exceptions to this are shown below. As you can see, the world is mostly divided between countries that celebrate a national independence day and countries that celebrate a national unification or revolution day. Americans are working all the time. But Gupta said that there's been a "lack of political will" to give the initiative some momentum. Many other democracies make election day a holiday and they all have higher voter turnout than we do. The bill has no cosponsors, but the concept was supported by every 2020 Democratic candidate for president, excluding Mike Bloomberg and now-nominee Joe Biden. Hailey said the country needs a "cultural shift" to prioritize voting. Why or why not? John M. Cunningham, "Why Are U.S. [3] In 1800, 83% of the American labor force was agrarian, but today only 11% of total US employment is agriculture-related. South Korea and Israel hold theirs during the week, but have made the day a federal holiday. In-person polls open Sunday at 12:01am, close Saturday at 11:59pm. Last Tuesday was election day in the United States, and this year we voted in the midterm elections. [31]. Sunday: the second Sunday of March for Congress, and the second Sunday of May for President and Vice President. It is very, very hard to change core American traditions which Americans see not only as propping up their democracy but perpetuating its legitimacy, he said. He says it's more important to spread voting out over a period of days and methods. By Monday morning, nearly 60 million had already voted early across the country, closing in on half of 2016's total voter turnout. As a holiday, that means several millions of people would have the day off from work or school, making it way . Lists national days around the world by country or date. The US isn't the only developed country that faces this criticism, however. [23], Annie McDonald, Editor of the Berkeley Public Policy Journal, noted that the workers who are least likely to get paid holidays are those who already have less of a voice in the political process: Americans working in retail, hospitality, and service jobs, for example, would most likely not receive the benefit of a paid holiday to vote.