Inside the Polls

Every second Tuesday of November in the United States is known as Election Day and it's been that way since 1845. Now it might need changed. Remarkably the voter turnout rates have been steadily decreasing since 1960 and ever since then the government has been trying to fix it.

Interesting solutions have been proposed but none have had enough popularity to actually be implemented. One of the solutions proposed was to make the second Tuesday of November a national holiday in main part to allow those who have a job to have more time throughout the day to vote. According to Slate.com in 2014 they “found that 35 percent of registered voters who failed to vote in 2014 specifically cited work and school conflicts as impediments.” As many people say this though experts believe that these are not the reasons for low voter turnout numbers.

Surprisingly the 2018 election experienced the highest voter turnout in just over 50 years according to NPR.org, “that's the highest turnout for a midterm since 1966, when 49 percent of the population showed up to vote.” So what's the secret? The increase in voter turnout is thought to be attributed to everyday Americans valuing the election more so than before. In fact “60% of Americans said their vote would be an expression of opposition to or support of the president.”

All in all voting is your choice to make and it will remain that way. What might seem to be of little importance to one might be a monumental decision in another's life so choose wisely and purposefully.