One of our major disappointments with the recent U.S. Government Accountability Office study about implementing nationwide weekend voting was that it didn’t look at voter turnout in other countries with weekend voting. The good news is, people are starting to take notice.

Today a few of Twitter’s boldface names — and many more — pointed out how silly it is America votes smack in the middle of the work week. First came the realization that France had turnout we’ve only dreamed of in the United States, by Anthony De Rosa of Reuters.

French presidential election turnout was over 80%

— Anthony De Rosa (@AntDeRosa) May 6, 2012

After his tweet, the conversation starting picking up.

BuzzFeed’s Andrew Kaczynski retweeted De Rosa, and Fernando R. Vila of Univision responded that Sunday voting wouldn’t be a bad thing here in the States.

US should have elections on Sunday too RT @BuzzFeedAndrew: RT @AntDeRosa: French presidential election turnout was over 80%

— Fernando R. Vila (@nandorvila) May 6, 2012

We were honored to get the hat tip in the funny Twitter feed of @pourmecoffee, who also notice De Rosa’s tweet and added our URL in a retweet.

j.mp/KFqVGR RT @AntDeRosa: French presidential election turnout was over 80%

— pourmecoffee (@pourmecoffee) May 6, 2012

And then De Rosa did the same:

Want to do something for middle class voters? Move US election day to a weekend. whytuesday.org via @pourmecoffee

— Anthony De Rosa (@AntDeRosa) May 6, 2012

There were many other awesome tweets throughout the day about why it’s silly the United States doesn’t vote on the weekend.

Turnout in French election was over 80%.Could it have something to do with their election being held on the weekend? whytuesday.org

— Paul Ledesma (@PaulLedesma) May 6, 2012

Seriously. Weekend voting please. RT @pourmecoffee: j.mp/KFqVGR RT @AntDeRosa: French presidential election turnout was over 80%

— Eric Geller (@erier2003) May 6, 2012

Dismal participation in US is no surprise: whytuesday.org RT @AntDeRosa: French presidential election turnout was over 80%

— Victoria Ramirez (@victoriaramirez) May 6, 2012

one can dream for that in USA“@pourmecoffee: j.mp/KFqVGR RT @AntDeRosa: French presidential election turnout was over 80%”

— Christina Kuo (@christina_kuo) May 6, 2012

The conversation in the Twitterverse today echoes what we’ve been saying since our group was founded in 2005, particularly because in 15 states voting is literally Tuesday-or-bust. No early voting. No absentee voting without an excuse.

You can join us in supporting weekend voting by signing our petition asking Congress and the President to support the Weekend Voting Act.

[Rep. Steve Israel, D-NY, and Norm Ornstein, resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute] argue Tuesday voting has depressed voter turnout rates in the US, and unfairly penalizes low-income voters who often choose between having to work and voting… I think Israel and Ornstein raise an important point here. Let’s go to weekend voting.

Today Stephanopoulos was responding to a viewer-submitted question about the status of the Weekend Voting Act, the bill that would move Election Day from Tuesday, where it’s been for 167 years, to Saturday and Sunday in order to increase voter turnout.

Stephanopoulos raised several points we’d like to address when he today said “at least one government study says that the modest increase in turnout weekend voting might bring won’t justify the cost, and also because there are now so many other ways to vote early. 35 states now have early voting or vote by mail.”

The study he was referring to was the study by the U.S. GAO, which we applaud but also take with a grain of salt. That study looked at only a few domestic examples of weekend voting and neglected to look at weekend voting internationally whatsoever (France is voting today, Sunday, at extremely high rates). As for the costs, we believe that the cost to our nation is far higher to have perennially low voter turnout than a modest increase of the costs of administering our elections.

With regard to the 35 states that have some form of early voting: we think that’s great. But we don’t believe the millions of American voters living in the 15 other states should suffer because many of us have convenient voting options. In those 15 states, voting is still Tuesday-or-bust, which is simply unacceptable.

Thanks to ABC, This Week and George Stephanopoulos for brining the Weekend Voting Act to a national audience. You can join us and ask Congress and the President to support the bill by signing our petition.

Our big question:

Are Americans Doing It Wrong?

Obviously, yes! We sorted through all of the data we have collected over the years to make the best case, in the most visually pleasing way possible, for moving Election Day to the weekend. International elections, voter turnout stats, census data and even a little history thrown in. It’s all there!

This infographic is part of Participant’s new TakePart on Tuesday 2012 election coverage. There’s lots more to come from there. But first, take a look at the red, white and blue beauty and let us know what you think!

Since 1845, Americans have been voting on Tuesdays — but why? In this humorous talk, Jacob Soboroff shares the history of Election Day and shows how voting on a Tuesday affects voter turnout.

It was an honor to take the main stage in Palm Springs this year, and an even greater honor for all of the attendees at the main TED conference in Long Beach to see the talk presented on the main stage there. We’ve got photos from both Palm Springs and Long Beach, so be sure to check those out.

Most importantly, you can join us and our campaign to move Election Day from Tuesday — where it’s been for 167 years — to the weekend by signing our petition now.

Though turnout at first seemed low in LA primary, it actually set a record: 186,400, up 25,000 from 2008. Motivated Santo voters?

— Trip Gabriel (@tripgabriel) March 25, 2012

All of this points to what Cook County, Illinois Clerk wrote on The Huffington Post last week, that the time for weekend voting, and for congress to pass The Weekend Voting Act, has come.

Voting on a Tuesday, a holdover from agricultural society, is an anachronism that keeps working people from the polls. Frankly, American voters need the weekend option more, not less, than workers elsewhere. Study after study shows that Americans work longer hours, with fewer vacations than Europeans, Canadians — even the Japanese.

He continued:

The naysayers are already complaining about the cost, but they are wrong. As the election authority for Cook County, the nation’s third largest jurisdiction, I know we can manage weekend voting and I am eager to explore the benefits. Instead of only relying on retired and unemployed poll workers, we can also recruit professionals and a new generation of civic-minded citizens who value voting as a patriotic duty and are eager to help.

Of course, there’s no silver bullet to increasing America’s terrible voter turnout, and some presidential contests this year didn’t see record turnout on the weekend. To be sure, a turnout rate of 21% in South Carolina and just over 10% in Louisiana isn’t anything to honor with an award. But weekend voting will help bring America’s dismal voter turnout, which ranks behind most other countries in the world, out of the gutter — especially in the 15 states that vote only on Tuesdays.

This year I’ve crisscrossed the country with the help of Participant Media’s TakePart.com to find out what the GOP presidential candidates think about moving Election Day to the weekend. Newt Gingrich told me he doesn’t support the idea. Mitt Romney doesn’t support it either, according to an interview with a local Michigan reporter. Rick Santorum, on the other hand, was open to the idea saying there’s nothing “magical” about Tuesdays.

Here’s Santorum:

And Newt:

And Mitt:

Lest we forget, four years ago, Barack Obama told me he’s open to the idea of weekend voting, too:

You can support the Weekend Voting Act by signing our petition to the President and Congress now.

Literally millions of people have been made aware of the backwards reason Americas vote on Tuesday by watching our videos at WhyTuesday.org. With the reintroduction of the Weekend Voting Act, now 535 members of Congress will have the opportunity to add their names to that list by supporting a bill that will make voting accessible for all Americans.

William J. Wachtel, the founder of Why Tuesday? said today: “I founded Why Tuesday? in 2005 in honor of the 40th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 to shine a light on America’s broken voting system, and to make election reform an issue our elected officials could not avoid. With the reintroduction of the Weekend Voting Act the onus is now on the members of Congress, all whom were elected on a Tuesday, to show they are more concerned with the health of our democracy than their own job security.

The complete press release from the Congress of the United States is below.

U.S. REPS. ISREAL AND LARSON ANNOUNCE LEGISLATION TO MOVE ELECTION DAY TO WEEKEND
Voting at more convenient time will increase voter turnout

Washington, D.C. — Today, U.S. Congressmen Steve Israel (D-NY) and John Larson (D-CT) announced legislation to change Election Day from the first Tuesday in November to the first full weekend, thereby making it more convenient for voters and increasing voter turnout.

Rep. Israel said, “Voting should be easy and accessible. This is why, in 1845, Congress decided that voting on a Tuesday made sense. It was the easiest day for farmers in our agrarian society to get to the polls. But times have changed, and Tuesday voting just doesn’t make sense anymore. By moving Election Day from a single day in the middle of the work week to a full weekend, we are encouraging more working Americans to participate. Our democracy will be best served when our leaders are elected by as many Americans as possible.”

Rep. Larson said, “As a representative democracy, voting is a fundamental responsibility for all Americans and the system should be as accessible as possible for as many as possible. Unfortunately, the system we have now was designed to meet our country’s needs over 160 years ago and it no longer makes any sense. It’s time we stop making people choose between exercising their responsibility to vote, and meeting their everyday obligations.”

The Weekend Voting Act would allow for national polls to be open from 10 a.m. (Eastern Time) Saturday to 6 p.m. (ET) Sunday in the 48 contiguous states. Election officials would be permitted to close polls during the overnight hours if they determine it would be inefficient to keep them open.

The long-standing tradition of holding federal elections on the first Tuesday of November began with an act of Congress in 1845. Tuesday was selected for its comparative convenience because it was a designated “court day” and the day in which land-owners would typically be in town to conduct business. The tradition was based on the then-agrarian American society.

Currently, most polls are open only 12 hours (from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.) for one day. As seen in the 2008 and 2004 elections and primaries, long lines in many polling places kept voters waiting longer than one or two hours. Voter turnout in the United States has long lagged behind similar democracies around the world. Only 47 percent of eligible voters actually voted in the United States. In Italy, where voting takes place on the weekends, 92 percent of eligible voters voted.

Ambassador Andrew Young, Chairman of the Board of Why Tuesday?, a 501c3 non-partisan organization founded in 2005 to find solutions to increase voter turnout and participation in elections , said, “I want to commend Reps. Israel and Larson for their steadfast commitment to the issue of voting rights and protecting the right to vote. Through the challenging times of the sixties I worked alongside our nation’s leaders on both side the aisle, and of course Dr. King, to remove barriers to the franchise. Moving Election Day from Tuesday to Saturday and Sunday would be an extraordinary step to make sure all Americans have the opportunity to make their voices heard.”

Norman J. Ornstein, Why Tuesday? Board Member and Resident Scholar said, “Americans vote at a rate far behind most nations in the world — we rank 138th of 172 countries. Of the G8 nations, we rank dead last in voter turnout and five of the seven nations that vote ahead of us vote on a weekend or national holiday. Despite convenience voting options for Americans in 35 states, in 15 states voting is Tuesday-or-bust. It’s time to make this common-sense change to our voting system.”