File #: Res 1350-2012    Version: * Name: Weekend Voting Act
Type: Resolution Status: Filed
Committee: Committee on Governmental Operations
On agenda: 5/31/2012
Enactment date: Law number:
Title: Resolution calling upon the United States Congress to pass and the President to sign into law the Weekend Voting Act, which would move federal congressional and presidential elections from Tuesdays to Saturday and Sunday.
Sponsors: Robert Jackson, Letitia James, Annabel Palma, Jumaane D. Williams, Ydanis A. Rodriguez
Council Member Sponsors: 5
Res. No.1350
 
 
Resolution calling upon the United States Congress to pass and the President to sign into law the Weekend Voting Act, which would move federal congressional and presidential elections from Tuesdays to Saturday and Sunday.
 
 
By Council Members Jackson, James, Palma, Williams and Rodriguez
 
      Whereas, Under current federal law, United States congressional and presidential elections are scheduled for the first Tuesday of November; and
      Whereas, Election Day was originally set for Tuesdays in 1845 at a time when most Americans lived in rural areas and were engaged in agriculture; and
Whereas, The intention of the law was to accommodate farmers who needed a voting day that did not conflict with religious or market days, which fell on weekends and Wednesdays respectively; and
Whereas, Having elections on Tuesdays no longer accommodates the majority of voters because Tuesday is a work day; and
Whereas, Instead, Tuesday elections reduce voter turnout by disenfranchising voters who cannot take time off from work or wait in long lines at the beginning and end of the work day; and
Whereas, This type of disenfranchisement falls disproportionately on low income workers who have the least flexible work schedules, are least able to make special childcare arrangements while they vote, and are most likely to work far from where they live and where their voting districts are located; and
Whereas, On March 8, 2012 Representative Steve Israel introduced H.R. 4143, also known as the Weekend Voting Act, in the United States House of Representatives, which would move federal election days from Tuesdays to Saturdays and Sundays; and
Whereas, Moving elections to weekends would likely increase voter turnout by making elections more accessible to working voters; now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the Council of the City of New York calls upon the United States Congress to pass and the President to sign into law the Weekend Voting Act, which would move federal congressional and presidential elections from Tuesdays to Saturday and Sunday.
 
AM
LS #3410
5/8/2012