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Fewer than two-thirds of U.S. citizens of voting age participated in the presidential election this year, which is almost exactly the average over the last 100 years. Meanwhile, the average voter turnout is only about 41% during midterm elections. What can we do to increase voter turnout on Election Day? I have three specific suggestions that I believe will increase voter participation, and with that, voter confidence:
1) Make Election Day a paid holiday.
This should be a no-brainer. Let’s make Election Day a special day in Americans' lives. There are 11 federal holidays in 2024, and none would be more important to the civic health of this nation than to set aside a day to celebrate our democratic system of government. Starting next year, let’s make it a nice even 12 federal holidays by adding the first Tuesday following the first Monday in November as a paid day off.
If your job duties require that you do have to work on Election Day, your boss must make accommodations in your schedule to leave you plenty of time to vote. Going forward, Election Day should be treated as civically sacrosanct.
2) Use ranked-choice voting to elect our state, federal and local officials.
Do you miss the nonstop negative ads that filled the air for weeks and weeks before the election? While the advantages of ranked-choice voting (RCV) are manifold, perhaps none is greater than its tendency to change the tone of political campaigning. Here’s how that works: If candidates A and B think they may need the second-place votes of candidates C and D to put them over the top (50% + 1), they are not going to be attacking those third- and fourth-party candidates with the vehemence that they might otherwise. And if candidates A and B can think of nothing better to do than attack each other with lies and exaggeration, they risk dropping down and becoming candidates C and D themselves!
At the end of Election Day, with all the first-, second- and third-place votes tallied, we end up with leaders and representatives who received a majority of “yes” votes, not just a plurality, and sometimes a very small plurality at that. This is a great improvement to our democratic system, and will certainly generate more interest in the process.
3) Get the government out of running primary elections for the political parties.
The political parties can use whatever method they want to choose who to nominate for any particular office. This can be done in a smoke-filled backroom at their convention. It can be done with open voting at their caucuses. It can even be done with a primary election apart from the caucuses, but it’s up to the parties to run those primary elections themselves. It is really up to the parties to choose how to select the best nominees for each office.
