The Why Tuesday campaign

As part of the debate over renewing the Voting Rights Act, a group called Why Tuesday is lobbying to move Election Day to a weekend to promote higher turnout. Seems like a no-brainer to me. Andrew Young lays out the rationale in an Atlanta Journal Constitution op-ed (registration required):

Saturday marks the 40th anniversary of the act, the most successful voting legislation in our nation's history. Just months after its passage, 455,000 Americans effectively gained the right to vote.

But we cannot rest complacently. Forty years ago we fought so that every American had the right to vote, while now we fight so that our democracy affords all eligible Americans the best viable opportunity to vote. Just think about one question fundamental to whether our voting system welcomes participation or inhibits it: Why Tuesday?

Holding national elections on Tuesdays is not required by the U.S. Constitution. Instead, this Election Day was established in 1845 by federal law. In those rural, agrarian years, Tuesday was a convenient day for most eligible voters — rural workers and land-owning gentry — to journey to the county seat and vote. Congress ruled out other days mostly by default.

Times have changed. Holding federal elections on the first Tuesday in November, usually between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m., allows the majority of working Americans only one or two hours to vote. As a result, long lines and crowded polling places have become synonymous with voting.

According to recent census data, "too busy/schedule conflicts" was the reason most cited for not voting. That far outweighed other cited causes typically thought to be obstacles, including "didn't like candidates/issues," "registration problems" and "inconvenient polling place."

Why are Americans asked to exercise the vote mostly in one weekday?

Comments

[rone]

I don't like this at all. Voting on a weekend means you can't ask for time off work to vote!

[Aaron Boyden]

I much prefer the campaign to just make election day a holiday.

[Jon Henke]

The more I think about that "weekend voting" idea, the more I like it. But I'm having trouble clarifying exactly why I like it.

Do I want to make it easier for more people to vote? No, that's not a particular interest of mine. If somebody can't be bothered to go vote on Tuesday, they're probably not paying much attention anyway.

Being able to vote is important. But it seems to me that a larger voter turnout would incentivize more promises of bread and circuses. That is to say, the people who already vote do so because of an interest in good governance. The people who are marginally attached to voting probably do so because they see a special benefit out of voting for a candidate.

I could be wrong. But, frankly, my own view is that the fewer people that vote, the more my vote counts.

On the other hand, the idea of a voting day that doesn't subtract much productivity from the economy is also appealing.

[Kyle Cotner]

I concur rone, keep it on Tuesday.