National holiday

I made my dad vote on Election Day. He wanted to, and he nearly always votes in election years – even though we live in Indiana, so our votes rarely count, thanks to the Electoral College – but he wasn’t sure if he would make it out for the primary. I convinced him, however, that he needed to make the effort and do it.
It shouldn’t have been a problem, though. The reason he wasn’t sure whether he could vote was because, like most Americans, my father has a job. He’s a teacher. And, since Indiana evidently doesn’t want its educated or employed citizens to vote, its polls are open only from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. My dad had to go in at 6 a.m. to be able to participate in the democratic process. (He was probably the first person in all of Hamilton County to vote).
There are two fairly simple solutions to this problem, solutions that would allow those of us who like to be able to pay for food to also decide who runs this country. The first solution is Indiana-specific, because it basically only entails bringing the state up to speed with the rest of the country. All through this primary season, I’ve watched news coverage to see the results, and for almost every contest I’ve had to wait until around 8 p.m. to get any information. This is because most states close their polls much later than Indiana does.
To be perfectly honest, it’s absurd that Indiana’s polls close at such an early hour. It’s nearly impossible to leave a workplace at 5 p.m. or so – like most people do – and get to a local polling place, get through the line, and vote, all by 6 p.m., especially if everyone else in the area is trying to do the same thing.
The better solution would be a national one. Election Day should be a state or national holiday, depending on whether it’s a national election or a state primary.
This would solve several problems at once, all involving turnout – which has become a problem in recent elections, aside from most of this year’s Democratic primaries. First of all, it would be a good start toward increasing youth turnout. Contrary to what the mainstream media would have us believe, there are many young people who care deeply about politics. However, most of them spent the vast majority of Election Day in school. Students who are of age shouldn’t have to cut class in order to be able to vote.
The current system is unnecessarily undemocratic. It’s a fairly simple move to make Election Day a holiday and allow people to actually vote, and any economic hit that would be taken from a loss of productivity would be more than compensated by the advantage of allowing people to participate in government. It is far past time that this change is made.