Aloha and Mele Kalikimaka from the island of Oahu. I know it’s been quiet around here, but we’re gearing up for 2009 and there will be lots more to come from us soon.

As you’ve probably noticed, President-elect Barack Obama is spending his final Christmas vacation here, in the state where he was born, before moving himself and his family into the White House. I’m also on Oahu for my family vaction, but I’d never miss an opportunity to get the President-elect thinking about our voting system.

Yesterday I walked on the beach near his Hawaii vacation home sporting my WHYTUESDAY.ORG t-shirt in hopes he might catch a glimpse and log on. After all, the state of our voting system is arguably more important now than ever before since nearly 40% of Americans sat idle, away from the voting booth, this election.

You may remember that I interviewed President-elect Obama last year during the primary election cycle in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. For that interview, click here. And to buy a Why Tuesday? t-shirt of your own, drop us a note.

This morning on NPR Weekend Edition I talked about (as I vlogged about earlier) how voters need not register in North Dakota. Listen to my conversation with host Liane Hansen by clicking here.

While you’re at it, NPR’s Robert Siegel and Professor Paul Gronke of Reed College in Oregon discussed the evolution of the American voting system (including Siegel talking about why we vote on Tuesday) on All Things Considered this past Friday. Listen to their conversation by clicking here.

Photo of Burleigh County, ND seal by me via Why Tuesday? on Flickr.

After having spent Election Day documenting the way folks cast ballots in North Dakota, the only state without voter registration, I was excited to read Ian Urbina’s article this morning in the New York Times about the future of the American voting system.

According to several reports, voter turnout, despite record highs in the primary election cycle, didn’t break any all-time percentage records for United States elections. Urbina focuses on two ways to increase voter participation and reduce problems on Election Day: universal voter registration and the expansion of early voting.

Many of the states that allowed early voting this year experienced few delays on Election Day, and now federal election officials, lawmakers and voting experts say people in every state should have the same privilege.

There is also increasing support for broadly expanding voter registration rolls, possibly by having the federal government require the states to make registration automatic for all eligible voters. Supporters say universal registration could reduce registration fraud and the confusion at the polls that results when voters are purged from the rolls.

Urbina’s article also explores the potential cleavages that might emerge as these types of election reforms arise, particularly between states and the federal government.

R. Doug Lewis, director of the National Association of Election Officials, a nonpartisan group that represents local and state election officials, said his members saw this as a “state’s rights issue” and were not thrilled about any possible federal takeover of registration or new laws that required early voting. But Mr. Lewis said they would support legislation that gave states incentives to help achieve these goals.

Most state election officials see the merit in early voting, Mr. Lewis said, and have become frustrated by dealing with voter registrations being submitted by third-party organizations, often in duplicate or with errors. He said state officials believed that they could do a better job than Washington in deciding how to keep the lists accurate and whether to expand them.

Another possible fix to reduce delays or problems on Election Day that didn’t make it into Urbina’s article is weekend voting or a National Election Day Holiday. In case you missed it, Rep. Steve Israel of Long Island and our board member Norman J. Ornstein penned this op-ed, which ran in the New York Times two weeks ago today about that possibility.

As a society that has been able to learn from our best and worst practices over the last 163 years, since Tuesday voting was set in 1845, we surely can do better at enhancing access to what Thomas Paine called the right by which all others are protected.

President-Elect Barack Obama shared with me his thoughts about the state of the American voting system, including his support for weekend voting, back during the primary election cycle. You can watch that interview here.

Still don’t know why we vote on Tuesday? Click here for the answer.

Photo by Isaac Brekken for The New York Times.

We first appeared on Rocketboom when we launched our Candidate Challenge in September 2007. And again from the Iowa caucus in January 2008. Their whole team including host Joanne Colan have been great about discussing the state of America’s voting system. Here’s our latest interview.

You can’t vote online quite yet in the United States, but you sure can do lots of other fun stuff online for Election Day. We’re partnering with a ton of groups on three great projects to make sure you are as plugged in as possible on Election Day. Here’s a recap.

1) Video Your Vote is an initiative from PBS and YouTube that aims to create the largest library of polling place video ever. Whether you vote early, absentee or on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November, video your vote!

2) EPWiki comes from the Center for Media and democracy, and we’re partnering with them so you can track voter suppression, voting machine problems and election day mischief on an easy-to-use wiki. You can find it easliy by clicking the “EPWiki” tab at the top of this page.

3) Twitter Vote Report is “an all-volunteer network of software developers, designers, and other collaborators have teamed up with the award-winning blog techPresident to launch this effort. The only resources contributed to this project are the participants’ time and expertise!” You can tweet each and every minute of your Election Day experience, so do it!

Still don’t know why we vote on Tuesday? Click here for the answer.

Add the CEOs of Borders, eBay, General Motors, Google and Intel, amongst others, to the list of those calling for a pseudo Election Day Holiday on votehour.org. These CEOs are speaking out to “encourage their employees to take an hour on November 4 and go vote.” As we noted here yesterday — and as FOX News picked up from our site — Barack Obama’s campaign is making a similar request of voters: take time off on your busy Tuesday to vote. They’re asking you to “learn why ‘too busy’ is no excuse this Tuesday.” (We beg to differ. Keep reading to find out why.)

Now, here’s the thing. According to the Early Voting Information Center at Reed College, there are 14 states where if you can’t make it to the polls during opening hours on “the Tuesday after the first Monday in November,” you’re out of luck. And yet, will a simple hour off work be enough time for folks who commute to their jobs?Kudos to votehour.org for bringing these CEOs together. It’s brining attention to the first question of many that we like to ask: why the heck do we vote on Tuesday, smack in the middle of the work week, anyways? You’ll find the answer right here.

Welcome KTRH morning news listeners in Houston! Even up here in the Big Apple we say everything is bigger in Texas. Well, perhaps not the skyscrapers. And yet, when it comes to early voting that certainly is true.

Moreover, in 2004 over 2.4 million Texans or nearly 30% of voting eligible population voted early. So far in 2008, over 2 million Texans have voted early, quickly approaching 25% of the vote eligible population – and there are still 2 days of early voting left. By all accounts, Texas’ 2004 record early voting turnout will be shattered this year. Look here at Galveston County turnout numbers and Lubbock turnout, for example. Read the rest of this entry »

Right now on the front page of FOXNews.com there’s a story by Judson Berger based in part on the blog post I wrote yesterday about the Obama campaign’s call to off take work or school on Election Day. A screen cap is below.

Berger speculates that Obama’s ad “might help rekindle a debate over whether Election Day should be made a national holiday or moved to the weekend as a way to boost voter participation.” Even so, he didn’t have much luck getting an answer from either campaign about the candidates positions on our voting system.

Neither Obama’s nor McCain’s campaigns would comment on whether the nominees actually support holding Election Day on a holiday or weekend.

Not to worry. During the primary election cycle, I spoke with both Senators Obama and McCain about their feelings about our voting system, and what they think we can do to increase voter participation. Click here for my interview with Senator Obama. Click here for my interview with Senator McCain.

I’ve talked with both Senator Obama and Senator McCain about what they think we can do to increase voter participation, including the idea of an Election Day holiday or perhaps Weekend Voting. To see what Senator McCain had to say to me in Manchester, NH click here. You can watch my conversation with Senator Obama in Cedar Rapids, IA here.

The Obama campaign is following in the footsteps of those calling for a pseudo Election Day holiday this November 4th. They are encouraging folks to ask for this Tuesday after the first Monday in November off work or school in order to have time to vote. Whomever you’re going to vote for, take a look at this video. If you’re going to be busy next Tuesday, you may want to take this advice.

In 14 states, if you can’t make it to the polls on Tuesday, and you don’t have an excuse to get an absentee ballot, you’re pretty much out of luck.

Still confused about why we vote on Tuesday? Click here for the answer.

Hat tip to Trey Ditto for tweeting the video.