A democracy is a type of government in which the people rule; it is adopted by many countries around the world (Kollman, 2012: 25). One way people influence government is by actively participating in elections and nominating people they wish will serve the country. These people – government officials: mayors, senators, presidents, etc. – represent the people and their ideologies. Some countries honor the electoral system more than others and the United States of America is one of them. This is why voter turnout is important and has become an issue faced by many political parties and their candidates, with the United States having one of the lowest voter turnouts. There are many factors that affect this decline, but the most important is the weather and more specifically the day on which the elections take place (Shaw, 2014). I believe that to highlight the importance of electing officials and encouraging states' citizens to vote, Election Day should be declared a national holiday and moved from Tuesday to Monday (Kollman, 2012: 330). Time management is not an easy thing to accomplish, especially in the United States. Everyone is constantly on the go trying to get things done and the limited time they have to work with. Therefore, the priority of a task falls within the time frame in which it can be accomplished. This is why many people don't vote. Looking at data from the 2012 elections in Texas, the hours you could cast a vote during the primaries, runoffs, and general elections were from seven in the morning to seven in the evening on Tuesday (“2012 Voting Hours”). Times like these are what keep voter turnout from increasing over the years. As stated in the book, voting involves creating more paper agenda, but if the entire day is dedicated to a single cause, the level of importance increases significantly. Another reason why this will be a good strategy for the government is that it will allow people to put aside their careers and have time to go and vote. Time will no longer be an issue because people won't be working or in school that day and will therefore have time to take care of their grade. Therefore, this is possible and should be considered by many. Works Cited Ken Kollman, The American Political System, (New York: WW Norton and Company, 2012), 25, 322-323, 330, 449. Shaw, Daron. April 7, 2014 (9:00am), Lecture on Voting and Elections.McDaniel, Eric. April 7, 2014 (9:00), Lesson on voting and elections. “2012 Polling Hours,” last modified January 22, 2014, http://www.thegreenpapers.com/G12/PollingHours.phtml.