Check out this video of my February 2012 talk at TED Active, which has been chosen to be a part of the curriculum of TED-Ed, the education initiative from the TED conference.


Have you ever asked yourself why we vote on Tuesdays? I didn’t know, and as you’ll see in the video above, many of our prominent political figures didn’t either. So, I’ve teamed up with a group called Why Tuesday? to find the answer, and it may surprise you:

In 1845, before Florida, California, and Texas were states or slavery had been abolished, Congress needed to pick a time for Americans to vote. We were an agrarian society. We traveled by horse and buggy. Farmers needed a day to get to the county seat, a day to vote, and a day to get back, without interfering with the three days of worship. So that left Tuesday and Wednesday, but Wednesday was market day. So, Tuesday it was. In 1875 Congress extended the Tuesday date for national House elections and in 1914 for federal Senate elections.

In a 21st century democracy with jobs, child care, and other obligations, you may wonder how voting on a Tuesday affects voter turnout? “Civic Life in America” data released by NCoC and the Corporation for National and Community Service found that in 2008, just 57.1% of voters actually showed up at the polls.

America, arguably the most celebrated democracy in the work ranks near the bottom of all countries globally when it comes to voter turnout. Of 172 nations that hold democratic elections, America ranks 138th.

Legislation has been introduced to move voting day to a weekend. What do you think-- will changing the day help revive political participation and help people get out to vote?