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Committee recommends making Election Day and primaries state holidays, sparking debate over costs and equity
Summary
The House Executive Departments and Administration Committee voted 9–7 to recommend House Bill 52, which would designate general and primary election days as state holidays and define how state holidays function for employees and agencies.
The House Executive Departments and Administration Committee voted 9–7 to recommend House Bill 52, legislation that would designate general election day and primaries as state holidays and add a statutory definition for how state holidays operate.
Sponsor Representative Ellen Reed argued that making Election Day and primaries a recognized state holiday would provide cultural as well as logistical benefits: "The cultural value of having a day off to celebrate the fact that we were an experiment in democracy ... cannot be overstated," she told the committee, linking the proposal to increased civic engagement and international examples such as Puerto Rico.
Under the bill as discussed, state employees would have the day off except for essential services…
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