Our Viewpoint

Not quite as smart as I might look, I, John Hamilton, The Ledger’s sports guy, have decided to take a shot at editorial writing and offer my opinion on the national holiday vacation day idea, referred to as Democracy Day. Usually limited to the play pages, I would like to offer a few other ideas about this proposed election day holiday that I hope will contribute to a discussion, here on the opinion page.

Let’s start with the rationale for enacting such a proposal.

If it came to pass, what other holiday would be more important? We could have much higher voter participation and, in a democracy like ours, our participation is our sacred right as Americans. We have an obligation to vote or deserve no place in arguments about our political leaders and the legislation they are empowered to enact. The people elected and the issues decided effect our everyday lives, isn’t that alone enough to justify having this national holiday for election day? It is like paying citizens to play, giving them added incentive to vote come judgment day.

The thought is that with a Democracy Day, folks would find it more convenient and easier to actually vote. It seems to me that in that way we could ultimately represent society’s true sentiments better by being more readily able to cast our votes. It could also produce a better workforce (in the form of employees who would normally not have the day off and being more available as they will not have to be at work that day and could increase the pool of available volunteers) for the staffing of polling places, and present the opportunity to expand those number of places to vote, as more people should be available to staff these new polling stations as well.

By declaring this new holiday, maybe people would begin to realize and appreciate how important it is that every citizen in our precious democracy does his or her duty. The thinking could be: “Hey it is the day to vote and each and every one of us needs to get to the polls! It is so important that they are giving me the day off so I can play my important role in our governance. By golly, I should get out there and vote!”

The holidays we already have are of no real benefit, they are nothing more than days off. There is no contribution to the improvement of society made, no critical obligations met, they are merely welcome diversions to our busy lives. They are simply a few days, scattered across the calendar to recalibrate, to rejuvenate ourselves.

There would be a measurable benefit from having a Democracy Day that is unmatched by any other paid day off and I think that is at least worth considering. It would become a biannual day off to more readily let us exercise our important right to recalibrate, to rejuvenate our system of government.

Unlike our current holidays, it would be a productive day off, one which could and should have a direct impact on our everyday lives and which direction our government goes.

There are government agencies (the State of Montana being a notable one) and businesses that already give their employees election day off, in the form of exactly what we are talking about, a paid day off, to ensure that they get to the polls. Why not make it universal and give everyone that same right to exercise their voting responsibilities without having to make special arrangements to do so, especially in these uncertain times?

Some days are more important than others for sure, but we know our day to vote, election day, is among the most important of all, maybe we should treat it that way officially.