We Need to Stop Voting on Tuesdays

"There's absolutely no good reason whatsoever" that Americans vote on a Tuesday, declares Jacob Soboroff in Good. Nowadays the practice, which started in order to make voting easier for horse-and-buggy travelers in 1845, only serves to disenfranchise voters, at least in the 15 states where—despite the fact that most states offer voting by mail or early voting—you absolutely must vote on a Tuesday or not at all. "So if you're a single mother or father, or work two or three jobs, or have long hours in school and you can't make it to your polling place … tough luck," Soboroff writes.

That's one reason we have such lousy voter turnout. Yet attempts to improve this state of affairs—like putting Election Day on the weekend or making it a national holiday—have all failed. "With rules that make it more difficult to vote, from voter ID, to purging, caging, felon disenfranchisement, and tricky registration regulations, the least we can do is vote on a day or in a way that makes voting accessible," Soboroff writes. But "if you were a member of Congress, would you change the rules of the game that allowed you to get your job? Probably not." But that's exactly what Congress needs to do. Click for his full piece. (More voting stories.)