Weekend voting

America votes on Tuesdays. By law and by habit, we go to the polls to choose our village officials, decide the fate of school budgets, vote for state leaders and elect a president on Tuesdays. But some in Congress want to break the habit.

Rep. Steve Israel, D-N.Y., has submitted legislation that would change the day historically set aside to hold federal elections. With little thought of why, Americans have been going to the polls on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November since Congress decided in 1845 that that would be Election Day for the nation.

The choice was a pragmatic one for an agrarian nation in which the horse and buggy was the primary mode of transportation. Voters needed time to travel sometimes great distances to the polls to cast their ballots.

Religious and social customs also played a role. Wednesday was not a good choice since it was generally market day, and Congress sought to avoid interfering with the Sabbath day. So, it opted for Tuesday.

But the nation and times have changed. A campaign called Why Tuesday? and Rep. Israel want to adapt to the times. As one possible way of increasing voter turnout — America ranks 114th in the world in voter participation — he would switch from a single Election Day to election weekends, to Saturday and Sunday beginning with the 2010 midterm congressional elections.

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., is among the co-sponsors of a companion bill in the Senate.

The notion of a nation voting on a single day has been slowly eroding in recent years. Dozens of states allow residents to cast ballots ahead of the established Election Day, and not just for absentees. In many states, voters can pick up their ballot and fill it in at home at their leisure days or weeks ahead of the traditional Election Day.

Voting over two days would also address nonvoter excuses about bad weather and hectic schedules keeping them from voting during the 15-hour time span when the polls are open. One in four people don't vote now because the weekdays are inconvenient.

Having two weekend days takes into consideration religious concerns about Sabbath observances.

Weekend voting faces many obstacles. There is no research to show it will improve turnout, and there are other factors to consider as well, such as the cost of a two-day election and securing voting machines.

States might balk at the plan if it means holding separate elections or being forced to have weekend votes.

Tradition will be hard to change. Doug Chapin, director of the Pew Research Center's ElectionLine.org, said, "Tuesday has history and inertia on its side. Changing it is more trouble than leaving it where it is."

Weekend voting advocates will have to convince Americans that changing such an ingrained part of our social and political life will be better than what we are doing now.