Americans woke up on Nov. 7 and prepared for a new day, carrying with us the fresh memory of a historic election that managed to change … well, not too much. The country’s body politic reined in its brief euphoria following our president’s re-election, and the success of some key ballot measures that tested, and passed, the standard of popular social progressivism, coming to the sobering realization that the next four years will carry with them the same political frustrations, challenges and, worst of all, Congressmen, as the preceding four.
There will be no weeklong celebrations or Nobel Prizes this time — only the grim resolution that we must press on as a nation under Obama’s leadership, tempered with a predictable, reactionary shift to the right in most states. It’s easy to call 2012 a politically wasted year, as the last 18 months were spent in a tiresome struggle that expectedly ended in an extension of the status quo. But that, in a somewhat perverse, beating-a-dead-horse kind of way, is quintessential American democracy. Only in America do we spend upwards of $4 billion while campaigningand work ourselves into an ideological furor to say, “We’ll just stick with this.”
The American political machine can arguably be condensed to one word — vote. Politicians, local governments and citizens alike came together this year and repeated the time-honored case that regardless of one’s political affiliation, disillusionment with the system or statistical insignificance of one vote, it is every eligible citizen’s societal duty to contribute to the selection of our leader and representatives. In many ways, their ceaseless urging and infuriatingly persistent email spam, cheesily telling us to “Rock the Vote,” were vindicated by the early election results. Florida seems to have been won by a margin smaller than the entire NYU population. The current difference in the popular vote is approximately the size of Brooklyn. Imagine if hipsters had collectively decided to vote Republican — frightening, isn’t it?
But for all their seemingly nonpartisan lobbying, policymakers seem to have overlooked a simple solution to increasing voter turnout — an Election Holiday. For millions of Americans, leaving work to cast a ballot at a polling station half an hour away is simply not an option. Consider the case of a middle-class household where a parent must work two or three jobs, coordinate picking up their kids from school and somehow get dinner on the table. To that individual, voting is, understandably, not worth it. It is counterintuitive and almost masochistic to subject these people to the agony of enduring an election and then indirectly exclude their vote because of their financial circumstances. Admittedly, many of these constrained potential voters would object strongly to losing a full day of pay for a process that could take under an hour. A modified policy incentive to vote could include a stipulation that all employers must allow their employees a two-hour paid break for registered voters to fulfill their civic duty.
Most democratic countries have already acknowledged the national significance of Election Day by voting on Sundays, and others have historically observed it as a day of reflection and responsibility that should not be spent in the workplace. Despite America’s unflinching 24/7 culture, it is evident that we are behind the ball on this one. The practical advantages of a national holiday is overshadowed by its symbolic importance in our society. Election Day is the finale of our modern-day political Gladiator and a quadrennial milestone that deserves greater recognition in our national consciousness.
A version of this article appeared in the Wednesday, Nov. 8 print edition. Sameer Jaywant is a staff columnist. Email him at [email protected].
