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The current voting system forces Americans to choose between their normal responsibilities and voting. The refusal to make Election Day a federal holiday is an expensive mistake that costs the United States' its voter participation.
Only half of eligible voters will actually vote this November. Instituting a day that allows all social Stratums to vote would: invigorate civic engagement, provide a larger pool for the current dearth of poll workers, and subsequent negative association with voting. This reform is the embodiment of HR Resolution 63, or the Democracy Day Act in Congress, a bill that ought to be passed before the 2008 elections.
Elections in other industrialized democracies do not produce the same anemic results as the US. For instance, 55-3% of eligible voters turned out in the 2004 US Presi- dential Election while France's 2007 presidential election produced a robust 85% voter turnout. The 2006 elections in Canada had a 64.7% turnout while in Norway, journalists were worried about an "alarmingly low" voter turnout of 76.1% in 2005. In neighboring Puerto Rico, where a full day off is given for voting, turnout in 2000 for their elections was 82%.
The idea of creating a national holiday for voting was promoted by the Na- tional Commission on Federal...