Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) wants more Americans to vote, so he proposes we make Election Day a national holiday.
According to a Friday press release from Sanders’ office, the Independent senator is calling for a “Democracy Day” on Election Day in order to “make it easier” for individuals to vote.
“In America, we should be celebrating our democracy and doing everything possible to make it easier for people to participate in the political process,” explained Sanders. “Election Day should be a national holiday so that everyone has the time and opportunity to vote. While this would not be a cure-all, it would indicate a national commitment to create a more vibrant democracy.”
Sanders also got pretty excited about his idea on Twitter.
After Tuesday’s low voter turnout, Sen. Bernie Sanders will introduce legislation to make Election Day a national holiday. #DemocracyDay
— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) November 7, 2014
Support Sen. Sanders’ bill to make #ElectionDay a national holiday here: http://t.co/MnUPwMX3DN #DemocracyDay
— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) November 7, 2014
The senator plans to file the legislation next week when Congress returns to work.
In Sanders’ home state, only 43.7 percent of voters went to the polls Tuesday, which represents the lowest share on record of voters in Vermont participating in an election.
Even worse, a mere 36.6 percent of voters across the country cast ballots in the midterm election.
Sanders also called the voter turnout on presidential election days — which is usually much higher at around 60 percent — an “international embarrassment.”
“We should not be satisfied with a ‘democracy’ in which more than 60 percent of our people don’t vote and some 80 percent of young people and low-income Americans fail to vote,” affirmed Sanders. “We can and must do better than that. While we must also focus on campaign finance reform and public funding of elections, establishing an Election Day holiday would be an important step forward.”
Undoubtedly, Sanders’ new holiday would spur patriotic parties nationwide at the beginning of November. After all, Americans don’t really have that much to celebrate between Halloween and Thanksgiving.
