♦Welcome to another edition of the Open Book Blog Hop!♦
Topic #222
May 4th is the unofficial Star Wars Day. (May the Fourth be with you.)
What other days should be recognized as holidays but aren’t?
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I think May the 4th is a really important day, but then if you know me, you know about my obsessions. Yes, I’m a total fangirl. My daughter’s nursery is decorated with X-Wings and AT-ATs schematics. She also has an AT-AT decal on her wall a little girl walking one as a dog). My house is shelter to a lot of Star Wars memorabilia. Just can’t get enough. More to come!
But what other holiday might I view as super important, probably far more important than the amazing cultural connection 5/4 gives us?
Election Day.
It’s not an official holiday in the United States, meaning that we don’t get the day off to participate in our governance. I think that’s a tragedy. A lot of workers, the elderly, people with disabilities, students, and other groups are disenfranchised from voting because they have to navigate deterrents the rest of us do not face (time off, transportation, access).
I’d change a lot about election day. For one: paper ballots counted and audited. You could easily regulate this with encoded ballots. US post offices could deliver them to citizens, pick them up, and be drop off. People are concerned about fraud in this transaction. There are plenty of ways to deal with the process, and a lot of jobs to create around safety, thus making it a win all around.
Giving people the day off would afford those who don’t get time off from employers the entire day to get to the polls. Now, this is where we need additional clean up: we need more polling places (not less), we need a better transportation infrastructure, and we need election day as a national holiday. Good? Good.
Honestly, I can’t believe Election Day is not a national holiday, or all employers are compelled to give people time off to vote. It’s as if they have a vested interest in the average voter not having access. Maybe that’s why there are so few locations and hours long waits for the majority of voters. Look, it’s a screwed up system, and it’s getting harder to vote every year. New York, in fact, just cancelled the primary for democrats, eradicating the voices of an entire state–that’s absolutely an infringement of rights and there are nefarious reasons behind it. Thankfully, there are New Yorkers willing to sue and address this attack on our civil liberties.
As of right now, I am just hoping things work out. I feel like I don’t even recognize my country anymore. A holiday so we could vote would be a bonus.
Let’s hop on over to see what the other authors have to say. I bet this will be interesting because we have authors from other countries participating, and the things they need are sure to be different from those here in the States…
Here in the UK we don’t have a day off for elections either. However, the polling stations are usually open from 7am to 10pm.
Ours are open like that, too. But they make sure there are few polling stations in key areas (such as heavily populated, with a certain leaning), and set up other barriers. It truly needs to be addressed.
Being the wife of a blue-collar worker I understand why people have resisted Election Day as a national holiday. My husband doesn’t get paid on the days he doesn’t work. That didn’t matter incredibly for us when construction was his full-time gig because Alaskan construction workers make good money and they don’t tend to work in the winter. But for blue-collar workers (and small business owners) who don’t make a lot of money, a holiday is a day off work that pushes them a little closer to not being able to pay their bills. But most white-collar workers don’t know a lot of blue-collar workers so we tend to live in a bubble where holidays are paid days off. That’s not the reality for the majority of the workforce.
He doesn’t get paid for national holidays? Really? Not on the 4th, or labor day? Not Christmas? New Year’s Day? Memorial Day? Veteran’s Day? Even when I was worked retail and hospitality, we were paid for those because federal holidays are paid. I worked as a painter, too, also paid for federal national holidays. I work with a lot of “blue collar” people, that’s 90% of my family, and they want the day, because they don’t currently get paid for time off to vote, and in many places they need to take time off to get in to vote. I find it very confusing that Alaska doesn’t abide by federal laws, as one of the states.
“White-collar” isn’t a group of people who are unaware of others, or didn’t come from certain circumstances. But I can understand how one might want to feel that way in order to blame someone for something they’re going through, but in the end, that’s all just prejudice that doesn’t help anyone.Thanks for you comments, but sideswipes at my assumed economic status are petty and should not be left in the comments for this hop. Let me know when you’ve read the book about my life and can comment with both understanding and empathy, instead of misinformed judgment and unexplained distaste.
It might be an idea to have the day after the election as a holiday. You can either celebrate or get over it, depending on the result.
Now, that’s funny. LOL
Some states do better than others. Florida’s reputation for being bad when it comes to elections is well-deserved. (Oregon seems to have a handle on it. Years ago, they would send out a pamphlet before election say with basic information about every candidate. (I don’t know if they still do or not) I thought is was the perfect way to make sure you had an informed electorate.
Some states definitely do better. I haven’t personally run into long longs and issues getting to my polling place, but my primary was cancelled this year as they assign us a candidate–I’ve already changed my registration to no party, again. There is so much around elections that need fixing. I find it amusing that anyone still thinks it’s fairly done. A pamphlet with unbiased information would be fantastic! Still, there are those who cling to their misinformation no matter what, but I guess you can’t get everyone. Unbiased information would be fabulous, but how do we manage it, with so many working to spread lies? Even if it was federally run, would we be safe from the skew and untrue? That’s something I find super compelling.
We don’t get a day off to vote in elections either, but the polling stations are open from 7am – 10pm, giving most people a chance.
South Africa gives the day off for voting. We have a lot of public holidays here and it reflects in our lack of productivity as a nation and increasingly dismal economy. I guess you can never have everything in life, there is always a price to be paid. The US is a huge and vibrant economy but American people do get less paid holiday time than other countries.
I don’t think having holidays is the cause for all of that, but rather a long history of many issues. Things, I am sure, will get better. And, the US doesn’t have a vibrant economy, despite the propaganda. The majority of us struggle to just get by. Current issues are really making it a lot worse, too. The pandemic has only exacerbated what was under the surface, taken the mask off. I hope the majority will be prosperous one day, in both our areas of the world.