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It Is Not Presidents Day

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Monday, February 21st, 2011

This morning I saw an editorial linked on Twitter called “It’s Not Presidents Day” in the New Hampshire Union Leader. The piece was about how today’s national holiday is actually the (relocated) birthday of our nation’s first president, George Washington.

That isn’t the holiday’s real name, of course. It was, and still is, George Washington’s Birthday. America’s jaded youth might wonder what’s so special about the old dude on the dollar bill. Didn’t he run over some red coats with a muscle car or something?

Three years ago this holiday stoked another question in our mind: if a president’s birthday can be moved for the sake of having a 3-day weekend, why can’t we move Election Day to make voting more convenient for all Americans? I headed to Queens, New York to explore this question myself. Watch to see what I found.

- Jacob Soboroff

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