SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
The city of Sandusky, Ohio this week announced it would swap Columbus Day for Election Day, giving all municipal workers a paid day off to vote. (Photo: Chuck Burton/Associated Press)
'This Needs to Happen Nationally': Ohio City Ditches Columbus Day to Make Election Day Paid Holiday
The city of Sandusky, Ohio is swapping Columbus Day for Election Day starting in 2020, ending the yearly celebration of Christopher Columbus and instead ensuring all city workers can get to the polls
Feb 06, 2019
Heeding a call by progressives including voting rights and indigenous rights groups alike, the city of Sandusky, Ohio will swap Columbus Day for Election Day as a paid holiday--allowing all city workers to take Election Day off so they can vote.
Starting next year, Sandusky, which is home to 25,000 people and lies 60 miles west of Cleveland, will no longer recognize the anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the Americas every October, instead prioritizing residents' ability to get to the polls.
\u201cCYMI: Sandusky, Ohio, is making Election Day a paid holiday in lieu of celebrating Columbus Day! \n\nPolls show that 71 percent of Democrats and 59 percent of Republicans nationally are in favor of making Election Day a national holiday. https://t.co/3oiFgVLAnK\u201d— America Votes (@America Votes) 1549558801
"Sandusky is proud to recognize Election Day as a holiday," officials wrote on the city's Facebook page. "What better way to celebrate the value of our employees and citizens than by removing barriers for them to participate in the greatest of American innovations, our democracy."
The government watchdog group Public Citizen was among those that praised the city for its decision, also calling for the change to be made at a national level.
\u201cBREAKING: Sandusky, Ohio will stop observing Columbus Day \u2014 switching the holiday to Election Day instead.\n\nThis needs to happen nationally. https://t.co/asabJwMB2D\u201d— Public Citizen (@Public Citizen) 1549498427
City manager Eric Wobser told the Sandusky Register that shifting away from the "controversial" Columbus Day holiday, as several cities and towns have in recent years, was also important to the city.
In 2018 alone, about a dozen cities including San Francisco and Cincinnati renamed the second Monday in October "Indigenous People's Day," choosing to celebrate Native American history and heritage instead of the European explorer whose journey to the Americas began a genocide which killed an estimated 56 million native people, and centuries of ongoing violence perpetrated against Indigenous people.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) has publicly called for Columbus Day to be eliminated nationally and for Election Day to be made a paid holiday instead.
\u201cHow is Columbus Day a holiday but Election Day not?\u201d— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez) 1542505337
A poll released last Election Day by The Hill and HarrisX found that most respondents were in favor of making the day a national holiday. Another survey by Pew Research showed that of Americans who did not vote in the 2016 elections, 14 percent didn't vote because their schedule didn't allow them to get to the polls--suggesting that a paid holiday would help many to vote.
Join Us: News for people demanding a better world
Common Dreams is powered by optimists who believe in the power of informed and engaged citizens to ignite and enact change to make the world a better place. We're hundreds of thousands strong, but every single supporter makes the difference. Your contribution supports this bold media model—free, independent, and dedicated to reporting the facts every day. Stand with us in the fight for economic equality, social justice, human rights, and a more sustainable future. As a people-powered nonprofit news outlet, we cover the issues the corporate media never will. |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Heeding a call by progressives including voting rights and indigenous rights groups alike, the city of Sandusky, Ohio will swap Columbus Day for Election Day as a paid holiday--allowing all city workers to take Election Day off so they can vote.
Starting next year, Sandusky, which is home to 25,000 people and lies 60 miles west of Cleveland, will no longer recognize the anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the Americas every October, instead prioritizing residents' ability to get to the polls.
\u201cCYMI: Sandusky, Ohio, is making Election Day a paid holiday in lieu of celebrating Columbus Day! \n\nPolls show that 71 percent of Democrats and 59 percent of Republicans nationally are in favor of making Election Day a national holiday. https://t.co/3oiFgVLAnK\u201d— America Votes (@America Votes) 1549558801
"Sandusky is proud to recognize Election Day as a holiday," officials wrote on the city's Facebook page. "What better way to celebrate the value of our employees and citizens than by removing barriers for them to participate in the greatest of American innovations, our democracy."
The government watchdog group Public Citizen was among those that praised the city for its decision, also calling for the change to be made at a national level.
\u201cBREAKING: Sandusky, Ohio will stop observing Columbus Day \u2014 switching the holiday to Election Day instead.\n\nThis needs to happen nationally. https://t.co/asabJwMB2D\u201d— Public Citizen (@Public Citizen) 1549498427
City manager Eric Wobser told the Sandusky Register that shifting away from the "controversial" Columbus Day holiday, as several cities and towns have in recent years, was also important to the city.
In 2018 alone, about a dozen cities including San Francisco and Cincinnati renamed the second Monday in October "Indigenous People's Day," choosing to celebrate Native American history and heritage instead of the European explorer whose journey to the Americas began a genocide which killed an estimated 56 million native people, and centuries of ongoing violence perpetrated against Indigenous people.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) has publicly called for Columbus Day to be eliminated nationally and for Election Day to be made a paid holiday instead.
\u201cHow is Columbus Day a holiday but Election Day not?\u201d— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez) 1542505337
A poll released last Election Day by The Hill and HarrisX found that most respondents were in favor of making the day a national holiday. Another survey by Pew Research showed that of Americans who did not vote in the 2016 elections, 14 percent didn't vote because their schedule didn't allow them to get to the polls--suggesting that a paid holiday would help many to vote.
Heeding a call by progressives including voting rights and indigenous rights groups alike, the city of Sandusky, Ohio will swap Columbus Day for Election Day as a paid holiday--allowing all city workers to take Election Day off so they can vote.
Starting next year, Sandusky, which is home to 25,000 people and lies 60 miles west of Cleveland, will no longer recognize the anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the Americas every October, instead prioritizing residents' ability to get to the polls.
\u201cCYMI: Sandusky, Ohio, is making Election Day a paid holiday in lieu of celebrating Columbus Day! \n\nPolls show that 71 percent of Democrats and 59 percent of Republicans nationally are in favor of making Election Day a national holiday. https://t.co/3oiFgVLAnK\u201d— America Votes (@America Votes) 1549558801
"Sandusky is proud to recognize Election Day as a holiday," officials wrote on the city's Facebook page. "What better way to celebrate the value of our employees and citizens than by removing barriers for them to participate in the greatest of American innovations, our democracy."
The government watchdog group Public Citizen was among those that praised the city for its decision, also calling for the change to be made at a national level.
\u201cBREAKING: Sandusky, Ohio will stop observing Columbus Day \u2014 switching the holiday to Election Day instead.\n\nThis needs to happen nationally. https://t.co/asabJwMB2D\u201d— Public Citizen (@Public Citizen) 1549498427
City manager Eric Wobser told the Sandusky Register that shifting away from the "controversial" Columbus Day holiday, as several cities and towns have in recent years, was also important to the city.
In 2018 alone, about a dozen cities including San Francisco and Cincinnati renamed the second Monday in October "Indigenous People's Day," choosing to celebrate Native American history and heritage instead of the European explorer whose journey to the Americas began a genocide which killed an estimated 56 million native people, and centuries of ongoing violence perpetrated against Indigenous people.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) has publicly called for Columbus Day to be eliminated nationally and for Election Day to be made a paid holiday instead.
\u201cHow is Columbus Day a holiday but Election Day not?\u201d— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez) 1542505337
A poll released last Election Day by The Hill and HarrisX found that most respondents were in favor of making the day a national holiday. Another survey by Pew Research showed that of Americans who did not vote in the 2016 elections, 14 percent didn't vote because their schedule didn't allow them to get to the polls--suggesting that a paid holiday would help many to vote.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.