U.S. Rep. Becomes Why Tuesday? Correspondent
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Thursday, July 17th, 2008
U.S. Representative Steve Israel (D-NY) and I sat down yesterday in Washington, D.C., and he soon thereafter became the first member of Congress to report as a Why Tuesday? correspondent! Watch the video for our chat, and his report.
Rep. Israel recently introduced the Weekend Voting Act into the House in an attempt to move Election Day from “the Tuesday after the first Monday in November,” as it has been since 1845, to Saturday and Sunday. After our talk, he took our Flip camera around Capitol Hill to ask citizens and a fellow Congressman the question we’re always asking around here: why do we vote on Tuesday?
Senator Herb Kohl (D-WI) introduced the same bill into the Senate earlier this year.
You can join Rep. Israel and become a Why Tuesday? correspondent by clicking here.
* UPDATE 12:30AM ET: Check out this Newsday article about Rep. Israel’s turn as a Why Tuesday? Correspondent. Also some exclusive video there too.
* UPDATE 7/19: I chatted with Al Gore and Nancy Pelosi about the idea of a Weekend Voting Act at Netroots Nation in Austin, Texas. Watch the video to see what they think.
* UPDATE 7/21: More press coverage of Rep. Isreal’s vlog for us: Los Angeles Times, Politico, CNN.
July 18th, 2008 at 8:01 pm
If it is on Saturday Orthodox Jews won’t vote and if it is on Sunday some Christians won’t vote. If it is on Monday and it is a national holiday to make it easier for working people to vote, everyone will go out of town for the weekend.
July 20th, 2008 at 4:25 am
Lauri, that’s why we need to modernize it. Orthodox Jews can still vote on Sunday and fundamentalist Christians can vote on Saturday. If voting is going to be during the regular work week it should be a national holiday and a day of civic celebration. I certainly don’t think our election day should be decided based on the supernatural views of some people, but we know that it can’t interfere with Sunday.
August 4th, 2008 at 2:34 am
Wow… I never thought about this, but I think you’re absolutely right.
This small change to an out-dated process could make a significant difference in voter turn-out.
I’m sold, where do I sign up!
August 4th, 2008 at 3:28 pm
One of the simplest yet profound things a citizen can do to protect our democracy is to vote. It is imperative to have the proletariat (”working class”) be able to vote where every citizen can be heard. After reforming the Tuesday elections, the next step should be doing away with the electoral college or at least making the popular vote stronger. From Wikipedia…. “The United States is the only current example of an indirectly elected executive president.” We don’t even have a true direct democracy.