“Let all who read this know: The day on which Americans go to the polls to elect their president is hereafter to be a federal, state and local holiday, to be observed by private businesses and individuals as they see fit.”
That’s our suggested proclamation to make Election Day a holiday. To those who think we already have too many federal holidays, we tend to agree. That’s why we’re proposing eliminating Columbus Day and replacing it with Election Day.
Columbus “discovered” the New World (there’s disagreement about this), but he never made it to mainland North America. His arrival in the Americas was, indeed, momentous, triggering the Columbian Exchange, which saw crops like corn, potatoes and cacao (the source of chocolate) move from the New World to the Old, and rice, wheat and coffee move from Old World to New. All of which was pretty fabulous, particularly the chocolate and coffee.
Not fabulous was the transmittal of Old World diseases overseas, diseases like smallpox, measles and malaria, to the indigenous populations, who, lacking immunity to these plagues, were decimated. Many localities around the U.S. now celebrate “indigenous peoples” day instead. So there’s that.
Which brings us to Election Day, which comes only once every four years, an advantage in the eyes of those who grumble about all the federal holidays. Our American democracy was founded on the right to vote, a right that was gradually expanded to all law-abiding citizens age 18 and older. Changing Election Day to a Saturday would be ideal; in the meantime, a holiday dedicated to that right and that makes it easier to exercise that right makes sense. State and local governments would have to buy in, and we hope that private enterprise would see the value of such a holiday as well, but we’d leave that decision to employers.