Bill Text: TX HCR12 | 2019-2020 | 86th Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: Urging Congress to designate election day as a national holiday.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2019-02-25 - Referred to Elections [HCR12 Detail]
Download: Texas-2019-HCR12-Introduced.html
86R3242 KSM-D | ||
By: E. Johnson of Dallas | H.C.R. No. 12 |
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WHEREAS, Low voter turnout on election day is a widespread | ||
problem across the United States, as Americans attempt to juggle | ||
their work and family responsibilities with a visit to their local | ||
poll; and | ||
WHEREAS, Since 1960, national voter turnout in presidential | ||
elections has ranged between 51 and 63 percent of eligible voters; | ||
turnout for midterm elections, while up in 2018, has typically not | ||
amounted to even half of eligible voters, averaging around 40 | ||
percent between 1974 and 2014; and | ||
WHEREAS, Compared with that of other countries, our numbers | ||
are abysmally low, as turnout is well over 80 percent in established | ||
democracies around the globe, from Australia to Belgium; and | ||
WHEREAS, The causes for this low turnout are complicated, but | ||
in surveys of American adults by the U.S. Census Bureau, family and | ||
work obligations are frequently cited as a reason for not voting; | ||
and | ||
WHEREAS, Businesses across the country are responding to this | ||
challenge through the "Take Back Tuesday" initiative and are | ||
closing on election day; on this issue, private enterprise, the | ||
engine of America, is leading by example and government should | ||
follow suit; and | ||
WHEREAS, Voting is the cornerstone of a democracy, and | ||
government must act to ensure that all Americans have the | ||
opportunity to accept the responsibilities of citizenship and to | ||
actively and regularly participate in the electoral process; now, | ||
therefore, be it | ||
RESOLVED, That the 86th Legislature of the State of Texas | ||
hereby respectfully urge the Congress of the United States to | ||
designate the Tuesday next after the first Monday in November in | ||
2020 and each even-numbered year thereafter as a legal public | ||
holiday described in 5 U.S.C. Section 6103; and, be it further | ||
RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official | ||
copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to | ||
the president of the Senate and the speaker of the House of | ||
Representatives of the United States Congress, and to all the | ||
members of the Texas delegation to Congress with the request that | ||
this resolution be entered in the Congressional Record as a | ||
memorial to the Congress of the United States of America. |