by: Sahil Muthukrishnan
Culture Editor

In a time when the United States faces extreme political divisions, voting is one of the most crucial tools U.S. citizens can utilize to make their opinion heard. These days, Americans face far too many barriers when they go to the polls. While states like California make extensive efforts to diversify voters’ options, residents of many other states don’t receive the same privilege. Lawmakers in D.C. should require businesses to provide paid time off on Election Day to increase voter turnout and improve the electorate’s representation.

Election Day is always on the first Tuesday following the first Monday of November. Back in the 1800s, this made some sense. Lawmakers reasoned that voters would not travel on the weekend because of the Sabbath. This schedule would then force electors to travel all of Monday to the nearest polling location so they could vote the next day, Tuesday.

Nowadays, voting on Tuesday places a burden on the electorate. Voters often have to take time off work, losing wages just to stand in long lines or have their polling stations changed at the last second, requiring them to rush to another location. Texas lawmakers caused a situation like this during the Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate in Texas. State legislators decided to disregard the long-standing tradition of county-wide ballot casting and instead restricted voters to their assigned precinct polling locations. This move turned voters away from their usual polling options and created widespread confusion. Situations such as these would be largely avoidable if the electorate were given ample time to vote earlier in the day, rather than being forced to vote at the last minute when they got off work.

Voting’s high barrier to entry is reflected in census bureau data, with 17.8% of people citing being too busy as the reason they did not vote in the 2024 election, the second most often stated reason, only behind “not being interested.”

While all states have some form of absentee voting, 14 require a legal excuse, while another 28 place the responsibility on the voter to request a ballot. Only eight states automatically send citizens a ballot. At least until we can create a widespread system of mail-in voting, we urgently require a more concrete system of in-person voting.

Currently, only 22 states require businesses to allot paid time to the electorate for voting. This is wildly insufficient. When someone who is surviving paycheck to paycheck is given the choice between losing hours of wages and voting, the choice seems obvious. Guaranteed paid time off in all 50 states would negate this issue, giving employees the freedom to exercise their right to vote. This would undoubtedly spike turnout, as the reason almost one-fifth of voters stated for their lack of involvement would be eliminated.

With the U.S.’s tumultuous political climate, an individual’s right to vote becomes increasingly important. It is the lawmakers’ duty to make sure that our citizens are heard. Guaranteeing paid time off during Election Day is a crucial step in enfranchising millions of voices we never hear.

[Sources: AP, EBSCO, NY Times, U.S. Census Bureau]