Rock the vote

John Quiggin asks why Americans vote on a Tuesday. Two answers:

1) There are sizeable religious groups in the United States forbidden to vote on both weekend days, as Quiggin suggests; I presume there are muslims also forbidden to vote on Friday, but don't know enough about muslim theology to be sure.

2) Public employees get the mid-week voting day off. They are a lobbying block against change to weekends.

As with any political question, when the question is "Why don't we . . . ?" The answer is usually that don'ting is in the interest of one or more groups.

Comments

Am I correct that this post isn't the result of your having researched the issue? If I am wrong, could you provide citations?

Posted by ostap | September 28, 2007 8:37 AM

Ostap, you can find the laws about, respectively, the Jewish and Christian sabbaths in the bible. You can find a list of states that offer the election day holiday at uselections.com

Posted by Megan McArdle | September 28, 2007 8:52 AM

I'd venture to guess that weekend elections might actually result in lower voter turnout. The real question is, why isn't election day a mandate national holiday?

Posted by Freddie | September 28, 2007 9:05 AM

Megan:

I object.

You set out to explain why we vote on Tuesday and then go on to explain why we don't vote on Friday, Saturday or Sunday. That's like answering the question of why you live in New York by saying that you hate St. Louis. What you explained is why we don't vote on the weekend, not why we vote on Tuesday.

Posted by Nate W. | September 28, 2007 9:11 AM

I think under the Articles of Confederation, the Continental Congress took office on the first Monday in November. The first weekday after the final harvest. In the Constitution, it carried over to elections being held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday.

Posted by Peter K. | September 28, 2007 9:12 AM

I remember hearing that it was because of the early days of the country. Sunday is out, obviously; one day is needed for travel to the polling place, so Monday is out; thus, Tuesday. Of course, this smacks of apocrypha, but maybe someone here will know more.

Posted by Dan Miller | September 28, 2007 9:14 AM

They're on Tuesday because way back when, you had to ride your mule from the farm to the county seat to vote. Since riding on Sunday was right out, Monday was reserved as a travel day.

Posted by Matt B | September 28, 2007 9:16 AM

Election Day is not the first Tuesday in November, but the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November. That's to prevent it from falling on November 1, which is All Saints' Day.

Posted by Peter | September 28, 2007 9:23 AM

2) Public employees get the mid-week voting day off. They are a lobbying block against change to weekends

No I don't. I've worked for the government for 11 years and no one has ever gotten the day off. At best, you can request leave to ensure that you get to the polls before they close, but since most don't close until late you just make the proper arrangements (I think there's a rule that you can be excused to leave work for up to 3 hours before closing time, but I can't be bothered to look it up. And anyway, polls in Jersey City open at 6 AM, so I vote before going to work). This may vary from state to state, but I can assure you with reasonable certainty that the government does not shut down on election day.

Posted by jonathan | September 28, 2007 9:32 AM

This may vary from state to state, but I can assure you with reasonable certainty that the government does not shut down on election day.

In many places schools are closed on Election Day, as schools often serve as polling places.

Posted by Peter | September 28, 2007 9:38 AM

My old high school was used as a polling place. The closed the gymnasiums and we all had an extra study hall period. I didn't mind. Floor hockey sucked anyway.

Posted by jonathan | September 28, 2007 9:40 AM

Megan, gee, thanks, but I already knew about the various sabbaths. I count eleven (11, 22 percent) states that provide their employees the day off. Have you got any evidence that these are actual reasons for Tuesday voting? Or is it pure speculation on your part?

My idle speculation, fwiw, is that inertia/tradition and the fact that, with few exceptions, government just plain doesn't work on weekends are the primary reasons.

Posted by ostap | September 28, 2007 9:49 AM

Only a libertarian trustfarian could use a question about election day to bash working men and women.

The first federal election day was established by statute in 1845, for reasons that had nothing to do with what public employees (other than Congressmen) wanted.

In some states, election day is a holiday. In a majority of states, public employees either get no time off to vote or the exact amount of time that private employees also get. Public employees such as emergency workers, public transportation workers, school teachers (in 45 states) and, of course, election officials do not get the day off.

Federal employees don't get the day off on election day, although they do get innauguration day off. They may request up to three hours off if they don't have three hours before or after work to vote (or longer, if their regular polling place is not within commuting distance and absentee balloting is not available) but they don't get the day off.

Of course, states can't change federal election day because of anything their employees want or don't want.

Conclusion: The Atlantic Monthly has reached a new low.

Posted by Katharine Harass | September 28, 2007 10:29 AM

I think it is a foregone conclusion that if elections were held over weekends, the voter turnout would be higher. But we wouldn't know how much higher until we actually gave it a try.

In France, the turnout for the 2007 general election (which was on a Sunday in May) was a whopping 84%. In New York City, turnout for the last mayoral election was a dismal 30%. And the Bush-Kerry election, showed a dramatic improvement up to 60%, bucking the 50% averages going back to the Reagan era.

We need to move election day to a Sunday. Even in a predominantly Christian nation, there is no religious excuse not to vote on a Sunday.

Most states do not shut down on election day, so the argument that they want to keep a free day does not seem to be true. Maybe they don't want to work on a Sunday. But surely if federal agencies can work 24/7, then a sate can get its elections infrastructure to work over a weekend. It would attract more volunteers. Working people under the age of 60 could actually man the voting booths for a change.

And think about how much more valuable the day could be marketed. We would be asked to vote on the same day that we normally watch a late-season NASCAR race or NFL football. Voting could be marketed as a bigger event than it is today (think "Super Sunday"). Then we go to our jobs on Monday, knowing most of the results.

Traveling for the weekend? Then we could devise a faster absentee voting system (probably online). How do the French do it if they are traveling that weekend? I can't believe that 100% of them were home and 84% went to the booths.

Posted by Dhalgren | September 28, 2007 10:35 AM

Voting on a Tuesday rather than a Monday makes sense because it gives elections officials a business day (Monday) to deal with any last-minute snags that might arise, for instance late deliveries of voting machines.

Posted by Peter | September 28, 2007 10:37 AM

Federal employees don't get the day off on election day, although they do get innauguration day off.

I don't get this day off either. Maybe they do in DC, but not in New York or New Jersey. I DID, however, get the day off off for Reagan's funeral; that was a one time deal though.

Posted by jonathan | September 28, 2007 10:39 AM

Tuesday bean gots mo kick.

Posted by Juan Valdez | September 28, 2007 10:42 AM

jonathan: yeah, inauguration is a day off for DC workers, I believe. The whole city gets pretty screwed up by the parade routes and celebration-related street closures. In 2004 I remember not being able to leave the house in the evening -- I live 2 blocks from the convention center, where one of the biggest balls was being held. My street was closed and I would have had to show ID to walk on it (war on terror, don't ya know). I still have a VA license, so that meant a quiet evening at home, seething.

Posted by Tom | September 28, 2007 10:54 AM

Megan wrote: "Ostap, you can find the laws about, respectively, the Jewish and Christian sabbaths in the bible."

This is truly funny. Pray tell, Megan, where in the buybull (as I like to call it) can you find the "laws" about the "Christian sabbath"? Are you under the impression that Sunday is specified as the "Christian Sabbath" somewhere in the New Testament?

Posted by MoeLarryAndJesus | September 28, 2007 10:56 AM

I thought that it was to please the atheists and agnostics? but then i recalled that they are such a minor group in the US that they do not even show up? The National Association of Evangelicals has 30 million members; the three leading American humanist organizations combined have, at best, a few thousand.

Question: "Is there a publicly atheist politician anywhere in the US?"

I know that there are gay mayors but has the US ever elected an atheists for anything? I do not think so.. After all - how should an atheist be trusted with ethical and moral issues like war or family?

Posted by Hugo Pottisch | September 28, 2007 11:01 AM

I've been employed by the state of Ohio for the past 16 years. Not once were we ever given a day off on Election Day.

Posted by cubicle drone | September 28, 2007 11:39 AM

After all - how should an atheist be trusted with ethical and moral issues like war or family?

Clearly they can't, because they are vile, evil, sub-human scum. Right, Hugo?

Man, the libertarian zoo can be a scary place. Usually it's cute little animals head-butting and knocking each other over and rolling around on top of their own feces, but occasionally they rush the bars and start growling at the onlookers.

Rep. Pete Stark, D-Calif., is an atheist, btw. Although he didn't publicly acknowledge it until long after he was elected. Gee, I wonder how on earth Stark can possibly know anything about family or war and peace?

Posted by Woody Bombay | September 28, 2007 11:42 AM

Thanks for your post, Katharine Harass. I was going to chime in with an 'amen' on your points when I was floored by the foolishness further on down the line.

Posted by Woody Bombay | September 28, 2007 11:45 AM

Woody Sapphire

Well how should God bless America when we go to war with an atheist president in place?? Ha? The guy does not even understand what the enemy is about.. the competing religion is alien to him?

How should an atheist promote family values when they do not even know how to fall in love and feel responsibility for their children without the church?

Yes - the libertarian animals love biodiversity and yet share common genes?

PS: Pete Stark was educated at MIT and Berkeley.. so he does not count!

Posted by Hugo Pottisch | September 28, 2007 12:05 PM

Not only is it a small minority of states that grant state employees the holiday, but it includes such red-diaper, pro-union, state-employee-coddling states as Florida, South Carolina, Oklahoma, and Kansas.

Can anyone find historical evidence of a state proposing to move its Election Day to a weekend (since, as established, Tuesday elections well precede the emergence of the state-employee-union juggernaut) only to have it crushed by the lobbying of state employees who don't want to lose a holiday? Megan?

I'm sure that state employees are happy to have that day off, but that's not what's alleged in this post.

Posted by Brittain33 | September 28, 2007 12:12 PM

No, you don't get better turnout on a Saturday election. I work the elections in my precinct and have for the last 6 years. Saturday elections consistently have a far lower turnout than Tuesday elections. Saturdays have about 1/3 to 1/2 the turnout of Tuesdays. The last Saturday election combined 4 precincts into one location and the turnout was still crap compared to the one precinct that usually votes there.

However, Saturday elections are (obviously) for different issues and offices. The Saturday elections are City, School Board, Community College, and State constitutional amendments. One might think the locals would turn out in droves for voting when it actually has the most effect on them and is on a Saturday when they don't have to work. One would be wrong.

The voting patterns might be different if the federal elections were held on Saturday. I don't know of a way to test that hypothesis short of changing the election date. My experience suggests that people find things to do with their lives on Saturday after working all week other than vote.

Posted by T | September 28, 2007 12:16 PM

I can't tell if Hugo is joking or not. I hope he isn't because that would be funnier.

Posted by JasonC | September 28, 2007 12:26 PM

"I presume there are muslims also forbidden to vote on Friday, but don't know enough about muslim theology to be sure."
Could you please extend this courtesy to every other area you "don't know enough about" including economics, politics, and philosophy and simply blog about getting drunk.

Posted by Rock the Vote | September 28, 2007 1:02 PM

I did not know there were government employee unions, lobbyist 150-200 years ago.

Posted by spencer | September 28, 2007 1:04 PM

Ostap, you can find the laws about, respectively, the Jewish and Christian sabbaths in the bible. You can find a list of states that offer the election day holiday at uselections.com

Dear little Megan, you really ought to learn how to do the most minimal research before you decide to share your "insights". Otherwise, you, like "Idiot Prince" Bush, run the risk of verifying all the stereotypes about know-nothing MBA's. So please do us the favor of citing a single government workers' union that's even mentioned, let along lobbied for or against, the notion of weekend elections. One, little Megan, that's all I ask.

Y'know, Meg, when former Presidents die, federal workers also get the officially-designated day of mourning off too. By your logic, I suppose their unions should be agitating for extending the same tradition to dead members of Congress, or maybe Cabinet members. Yet they don't seem to be. Maybe you can come up with some more "out of the box" explanations for this oddity?

I simply cannot comprehend how the same magazine that publishes the superb Fallows needs to debase itself with ignorant narcissists like McArdle and Sullivan.

Posted by sglover | September 28, 2007 1:31 PM

I can't tell if Hugo is joking or not. I hope he isn't because that would be funnier.

No kidding. My head is spinning.

Posted by Woody Bombay | September 28, 2007 1:34 PM

JasonC wonders: "I can't tell if Hugo is joking or not. I hope he isn't because that would be funnier."

His head-injury prose and the weird use/misuse of question marks would be hard to fake, but not impossible.

Hey, Hugo, how about some biographical information so we can determine if you're real?

Posted by MoeLarryAndJesus | September 28, 2007 1:54 PM

"I know that there are gay mayors but has the US ever elected an atheists for anything?"

I swear I've driven down this road before....

http://www.janegalt.net/archives/009528.html

Posted by Njorl | September 28, 2007 4:30 PM

JasonC

You are right.

Apologies for the bad humor. I will try to stay clear of it!

Of course I know that an atheist could in theory run for office. He might have slim chances but that is the nature of democracy?

So why does the vote take place on Tuesday? Because of something that happened 1845 as Kathrine argues?

Posted by Hugo Pottisch | September 28, 2007 5:23 PM

His ... weird use/misuse of question marks would be hard to fake

You stay classy, San Diego. I'm Ron Burgundy?

Posted by Woody Bombay | September 28, 2007 6:06 PM

You are dangerous MoeLarryAndJesus!

Posted by Hugo Pottisch | September 28, 2007 7:24 PM

Hey, Hugo, how about some biographical information so we can determine if you're real?

You first, homey. My personal theory is that you're Inky, Kelso is Blinky, Freddie is Pinky, and FMM.blogspot is Sue.

Posted by anony-mouse | September 28, 2007 7:25 PM

Hugo tells me: "You are dangerous MoeLarryAndJesus!"

I just hope you were wearing your monocle when you typed that.

Posted by MoeLarryAndJesus | September 28, 2007 7:51 PM

In France, the turnout for the 2007 general election (which was on a Sunday in May) was a whopping 84%. In New York City, turnout for the last mayoral election was a dismal 30%. And the Bush-Kerry election, showed a dramatic improvement up to 60%, bucking the 50% averages going back to the Reagan era.

"Dismal"? Why is it good to have a high turnout? Note that high turnouts generally correspond to high stakes. It's bad when an election has high stakes; it means there's something wrong. The ideal would be for control of the government to be so meaningless that nobody bothered to show up.

We need to move election day to a Sunday. Even in a predominantly Christian nation, there is no religious excuse not to vote on a Sunday.

Well, I'm glad to see that you've decided on what Christian people should believe.

But there's also the expense; it costs more to pay people to work on the weekend, and it takes a lot of state employees to run an election.

Posted by David Nieporent | September 29, 2007 5:56 AM

David

We have stopped joking around? The US is obviously NOT a Christian nation on paper - that would go against the idea of democracy? We have been fighting thousands of years to finally reach separation of church and state..

Many/most people in the US follow 1-click eh 1-god values (Jews, Christians, Muslims - they are virtually the same story/teaching!)

All others are minorities (educated citizens, Trekkies, Star Wars, Homer/Zeus, atheists, Buddhists, Hindus, taoists, etc?) hope therefore that the separation is being taken seriously?

In other words - I sincerely hope that no "official and public" argument has been made to consider religion when it comes to voting!!!!

Posted by Hugo Pottisch | September 29, 2007 10:24 AM

In other words - I sincerely hope that no "official and public" argument has been made to consider religion when it comes to voting!!!!

It has nothing to do with "considering religion" per se; it's accommodating the religious beliefs of people. Same reason that schools are closed on religious holidays celebrated by a significant number of students in the district. Schools in New York and New Jersey are closed on Rosh Hashanah; schools in Idaho presumably are not. But all of them are closed on Christmas. Why? Because there would be large numbers of absences.

And we shouldn't hold election days on days when large numbers of people won't participate.

Posted by David Nieporent | September 30, 2007 5:26 AM

David

I agree with your Xmas day argument. Why risk at least 50% of Americans being sad on Chirst's birthday because their favorite lost. (I am always glad that there are so many Asian immigrants in the US who keep their restaurants and shops open around Xmas though)?

But Tuesday vs Sunday?

Christians in Europe have no quarrel voting on Sundays? Sounds like sports and movies are more important than democracy and that it has nothing to do with religion? I was at the NY Open a few years ago and it was packed on the final weekend? Some Hollywood blockbusters score big turnovers on their opening weekends?

There was no democracy in the middle east at the time of Jesus.. nothing he said ever sounded like: "Thou shall not vote for freedom on Sunday? It's a sin...?"

If the lord is supposed to bless our democracy as often as US politicians propose - then I am sure that the lord also blesses democracy in general and that he would bless us to bless what we want him to bless? after all - we created god in our own image! I personally think that we should take guidelines like "thou shall not kill" more seriously? (Mind you it states "kill" and not "murder"). Starting with ourselves!

Democracy is older than Christianity but has (had) fewer followers - I understand that... However - it seems to me that a better explanation for 2007 is that citizens do not want to miss out on watching sports or movies than honoring the landlord? (we wage wars on Sundays for example?)

Voting takes how long - 1h (including door to door travel)? Going to church how long? Going to the movies or the games how long? We could combine it on Sunday's but it gets too crammed and crowded now that I think about it...

Maybe Tuesday IS a good idea after all? There are no major sitcoms airing on Tuesday anyway? No.. I think I will take all back.. Tuesday is just fine it. also "accommodates" the non-believers among us!

Posted by Hugo Pottisch | September 30, 2007 5:21 PM

Add me to the folks who want as low a turnout as possible. After all, as a consistent voter, I enjoy my vote having greater marginal significance.

Hugo,

I think you are confusing Europe with America in one distinctive way. Yes, Europe has a lot of Christians, but they are by-and-large members of pretty mainstream sects, with fairly unobtrusive weekly requirements. America, on the other hand, is all over the place what with our Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, Seventh Day Adventists, Messianic Jews, Evangelicals, Pentecostals, etc. Since those (growing) sects tend to require a LOT of participation from their members, over and above an hour on Sunday morning, it's rather difficult to generalize that they should just get with it and vote on Sunday (or Saturday).

Of course, I understand what you are saying about leisure seeming to come first before everything else, but again, I prefer that. After all, I don't want some idiot who doesn't care about public policy canceling out my vote. I'd rather he keep his fat butt on the couch watching football.

Posted by Christina | October 1, 2007 2:50 PM