It would hurt the economy
Not only do federal holidays cost taxpayers an astronomical amount of money but they cost the economy as a whole a large sum of money. Employers not at work and business shut downs hurt economic growth; it may only be for a day, but it is enough to do damage.
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The Argument
Election day should not be made into a national holiday because doing so would take a toll on the economy. If election day were turned into a holiday, the economy would be hit by means of people not working and people getting paid to not work. Adding a new holiday to the calendar would be costly.[1]
Fewer people working means an entire day where business and economic productivity is down. Even worse, most propositions for turning election day into a federal holiday insists on it being a paid holiday.[2] If election day is turned into a federal holiday, companies must workers additional vacation time, costing businesses money and productivity.
If we look to federal workers, the economic situation turns worse. If election day is made into a new paid holiday, taxpayer money will fund their day off. It is estimated that every federal holiday costs taxpayers about half a billion dollars in wages paid to the country's 2.7 million federal employees.[3]
Election day should not be made into a national holiday. The model in place now does not come with the economic burden of having businesses shut down and having employees paid without work.
Counter arguments
Election day should be made into a national holiday because the benefit of increased voter turnout outweighs any negative effects on the economy.
According to John Conyers, a Democrat who represents Michigan's 13th District, "the cost of low voter participation for our democracy cannot be measured in financial terms."[4] A presidential election determines the future of a country for four solid years. You can not place a price on the kind of impact that can be had in four years.
Turning election day into a national holiday would minimize economic growth for a day, but it would be worth it. Not only would it be worth it, but the harm done to the economy would be minuscule and negligible.
Countries like the United States can afford to have businesses shut down and pay workers for one day. Conyers says, "Though some might dismiss an Election Day holiday as being too expensive for our government to afford, the damage caused by low voter participation is a far greater risk."[4]
Voting is a right and there should be no restrictions put in place nor financial calculations made to make this right difficult to enact.
Proponents
Premises
Rejecting the premises
References
- https://www.wral.com/why-isnt-election-day-a-national-holiday-yet/19054655/
- https://www.gavi.org/vaccineswork/covid-19-vaccine-race
- https://www.dailypress.com/news/dp-xpm-20020211-2002-02-11-0202090034-story.html#:~:text=A%3A%20According%20to%20the%20Orange,country's%202.7%20million%20federal%20employees.&text=FYI%3A%20It%20is%20possible%20the,over%20the%20next%20five%20years.
- https://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2016/11/07/overturning-election-day-tradition/make-eleciton-day-a-national-holiday