The extravagance and abundance of media attention that habitually precedes a U.S. presidential election are already in full swing. Yet all the hoopla seems somewhat overdone, considering that only half of eligible voters will actually go out and vote in November. This picture is not a gloomy prediction or a worst-case scenario but the accepted truth of politics over the past five decades. The fact remains that the U.S. population votes in far lower numbers than do those of other established democracies.

Many proposed reforms aim to alter this trend of low voter turnout, but few are as common-sense as making Election Day a federally recognized national holiday on which workers can get a paid day off to go out and vote. Establishing a national Election Day holiday would remove the financial and employment restrictions that are currently placed on voting and which create a disincentive for millions of working Americans to participate in democracy. Additionally, instituting a day that allows all social strata to vote would invigorate civic engagement and provide a larger pool for the current dearth of poll workers, as well as decrease the stress and subsequent negative association with voting. This reform is the embodiment of House Resolution (H.R.) 63, entitled the Democracy Day Act—a bill that ought to be passed before the 2008 elections.

In the 2000 presidential election, 20 percent of eligible non-voters did not go to the polls due to “scheduling conflicts or inconvenient voting procedures” resulting in a mere 51.3 percent voter turnout. Yet elections in other industrialized democracies do not produce the same anemic results. For instance, 55.3 percent of eligible voters turned out for the 2004 U.S. presidential election—which some pundits claimed was the most important election of their lifetimes—while France’s most recent presidential election produced a robust 85 percent voter turnout. The 2006 elections in Canada had a 64.7 percent turnout, while journalists in Norway were worried about an “alarmingly low” voter turnout of 76.1 percent in 2005. In neighboring Puerto Rico, where a full day off is given for voting, turnout in 2000 for the elections was 82 percent. Certainly cultural differences shape respective voter percentages, but it is no coincidence that established democracies that give an Election Day holiday have far higher electoral turnouts.

The idea of creating a national holiday for voting, currently supported by over 60 percent of Americans, was first promoted by the National Commission on Federal Election Reform, headed by Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford. The commission recommended merging Election Day with Veterans Day, the latter already being a federally recognized holiday. This reform would be a crucial step forward in reinvigorating public engagement in national elections. The establishment of Democracy Day would allow millions of low-income Americans, who vote in lower proportions than those of other social strata do, to get a paid day off to vote. This egalitarian approach to voting could help reverse the centuries of African American disenfranchisement, the repercussion of which are still felt today. Furthermore, as Robert Richie of the Center for Voting and Democracy points out, a day off from work would provide a larger source of poll workers, which is desperately needed to increase access to voting.

Cynics argue that a Democracy Day would not increase voter turnout, a statistic that they say is dependent on cultural attitudes toward voting and civic engagement. Instead, it would merely provide another day that citizens would get off from work without necessarily going out to vote. However, Democracy Day offers an effective means of reinforcing the importance of public participation in democracy by devoting a day to stimulate American national spirit the way other national holidays do. Most Americans are quite familiar with and participate in their local celebrations of Memorial Day, Veterans Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and other similar holidays. Election Day deserves the same degree of observance, and not the current regrettable perception of long lines at polling stations preceded by working and commuting. Indeed, Democracy Day would offer a most effective means of establishing a positive view of voting—one of democratic rights as a duty, rather than a burden which can be neglected.

This reform is crucial to assuring the fairest and most participatory election in 2008, hopefully the first year in which Democracy Day is observed. Results would include higher voter turnout, improved American civic participation, and a healthier democracy.

The author is a Columbia College sophomore. He is the outreach director for the Roosevelt Institute.