Add us to the more than 250 students who have already joined the initiative to make 2008′s Election Day a recognized academic holiday for Washington University.

The initiative, led by the College Democrats, proposes that this be a day off to support political engagement on campus. It is also partially a response to the difficulty many students faced during the 2006 election when they tried to cast their votes at Wydown Middle School and an attempt to alleviate the heavy schedules burdening students and potentially preventing them from casting their votes on Election Day. The potential holiday has been dubbed “Democracy Day,” mirroring the proposed national holiday that has been stalled in Congress for quite some time.

Every election cycle, voter turnout becomes a point of contention. People ask, “Why do we have such low turnout nationwide?” The reason is that many individuals decide that the costs of voting outweigh the benefits they receive. As a result, many average Americans do not turn out on Election Day. Those who do vote usually feel strongly about civic duty or key issues. Consequently, the actual voting population tends to disproportionately represent special interests groups, whether they are the elderly, evangelical Christians or labor unions. Middle-of-the-road Americans are underrepresented because they do not feel passionately about any specific issue, and lower-income Americans are underrepresented because they cannot afford to take time off from work to go vote.

The result of disproportionate turnout is the Congress we elect every cycle. Politicians catering to the extremes of the political spectrum or giving lots of pork to special interest groups do not appear out of the ether. They are elected to serve constituencies that want them to act in this manner. Furthermore, while few will admit it, many politicians actually like low voter turnout. It is much easier to serve (and get re-elected by) a small constituency composed of special interest groups than a large constituency of diverse opinions. This is one reason why the Democracy Day national holiday is stalled in Congress.

But for all the talk of culture wars, America is not as politically divided as it may appear on cable news. The problem is just that many moderate Americans do not vote. Therefore, one of the best ways to bring back moderate politics is to lessen the costs and obstacles of voting. If more average Americans vote, then politicians’ constituencies will shift away from the extremes. More moderate politicians will lead to greater cooperation in legislatures, more productive government and less vitriolic rhetoric.

So how do you increase voter turnout? Well, making Election Day a national holiday (and a day off from work) would certainly help. But since we do not control national policy, in the spirit of “think globally, act locally,” we encourage the University to adopt Democracy Day as a school holiday. Beyond just the student body, such a holiday would make it easier for many faculty and staff of the University to vote as well.

By presenting itself as willing to put up the vast amounts of money, time and effort that the Presidential debates require, the school has already shown an interest in bolstering political involvement. Giving the University community a better opportunity to vote in 2008′s Presidential elections would greatly reinforce this commitment to political engagement. The University’s consideration of its students, faculty and staff on Election Day is a test of its political commitment.

As a repeated host of the presidential debates, the University is in a strong position to take the lead in expanding political engagement and dialogue amongst other institutions of higher education by supporting Democracy Day. The day would not only reduce the costs of voting, it would also spread general political awareness and activism on campus. The day off would harness and sublimate the energy of an election day into a positive buzz around campus and could become an event the school looks forward to every two years.

We support Democracy Day as a positive step towards increasing voter turnout and political awareness on campus. We encourage Student Union and the Faculty Senate to endorse this academic holiday and we hope that University administrators will make it a reality. For too long American politics have been dominated by extremes. This may only be one small step on a long road to moderate government, but we have to start somewhere.

Why not here?

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