General Question

flo's avatar

Which religious holidays if any, should governments take into account when deciding election dates? See detail.

Asked by flo (13313points) July 24th, 2019

Even within Christianity there are differences. Greek Orthodox versus the rest for example: https://www.newsweek.com/greek-easter-eastern-orthodox-christians-celebrate-different-date-1405551
If you take all the religious holidays of all the non-obscure religions, and denominations, how many days are there to not book the election dates on? Edited to add.

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8 Answers

flo's avatar

…If any, just in case.

Yellowdog's avatar

Elections are usually held in the fall, after the High Holy Days of the Jewish calendar year, and before American Thanksgiving.

If any special elections were held in the Springtime, there is Hebrew Passover, western Christian Easter, and the Orthodox sects’ Easter/Pascal celebrations and observances.

Other than that, there’s not a lot that matters to most religions,

JLeslie's avatar

That’s what early voting is for.

There aren’t a lot of religious holidays I can think of in November, but just in case, people can vote absentee or early.

I do think religious holidays should be considered. If votes were scheduled cover Yom Kippur or near Christmas it wouldn’t be a good idea.

Darth_Algar's avatar

Are there any religious observances that Election Day’s even close to anyway?

Cupcake's avatar

Members of the Baha’i faith celebrate the birth of Baha’u’llah in November, but we are approximately 0.1% of the global population (don’t know the proportion of US citizens) and I wouldn’t expect our holy days to be considered for US elections.

If early/absentee voting wasn’t a thing, then I would feel differently.

zenvelo's avatar

Ramadan does not have a fixed date or even a fixed season in the Gregorian calendar. Since the Islamic calendar is 354/355 days, it can vary greatly. There are years when Ramadan is observed during winter, other when it is observed in the summer.

However, if an election were to fall during Ramadan. Muslims would still vote. Ramadan does not mean Muslims retreat from their daily routine, rather they are encouraged to continue as normal in their work and usual activities.

flo's avatar

So, if we go with Islam Christianity Hinduism, Buddism, Shintoism, Sikhism, Judaism, (that’s in order of population size according to the follwing article which I don’t know)
https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/largest-religions-in-the-world.html
How many days are going to be considered if let’s say USA were to consider all the holidays of all those religions? Edited to add.

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