Does a Day Off Raise Voter Turnout? Israel and the Democratic World
Israel makes election day a day off. Most democracies vote on weekends instead. We lined up turnout in 30 democracies against how each one schedules its vote. The data does not settle it.
A day off has not been shown to raise turnout on its own. Israel (76.1%) and South Korea (77.9%), the two OECD countries that vote on a weekday holiday, have high turnout. But Denmark and the Netherlands vote on ordinary weekdays and match them, and Switzerland votes on weekends and is last. A 2009 Princeton study of US holiday states found no significant effect.
The short version
Israel votes on a Tuesday, and election day is a day off by law. The United States votes on a Tuesday too, and it is not. Each time the US debates this, someone asks whether a day off would lift turnout.
We looked at the cross-country numbers and at the studies. The honest answer is that we found no study showing a day off, on its own, raises turnout. The two countries that vote on a weekday holiday and sit in the data we used, Israel and South Korea, do have high turnout. But two countries cannot carry a conclusion.
How democracies schedule the vote
Pew Research Center sorted 106 democracies by election day in a July 2026 analysis.
| Type of election day | Countries | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Saturday or Sunday | 60 | Germany, France, Japan, Australia, Brazil |
| Ordinary weekday | 28 | United States, United Kingdom, Canada, India |
| Weekday declared a national holiday | 16 | Israel, South Korea, South Africa, the Philippines |
Pew counts 61 and 29 in its chart summary and 60 and 28 in its country table. We used the table. A 2018 Pew study of the OECD found that 27 of 36 members voted on a weekend, and only Israel and South Korea voted on a weekday holiday.
Turnout, side by side
We took Pew's turnout chart for 30 advanced democracies and matched each country to its election-day type. The chart shows turnout as a share of the voting-age population, for the most recent national election at the time (2012 to 2018).
| Election-day type | Countries in the data | Average turnout | Range |
|---|---|---|---|
| Weekday holiday | 2 | 77.0% | 76.1% to 77.9% |
| Ordinary weekday | 7 | 66.8% | 55.7% to 80.3% |
| Weekend | 21 | 64.2% | 38.6% to 87.2% |
The weekday holiday group is on top. Israel stands at 76.1% and South Korea at 77.9%.
Now the problems.
- Two countries. Two data points are an anecdote.
- The ranges overlap a lot. Denmark (80.3%) and the Netherlands (77.3%) vote on ordinary weekdays and turn out like the holiday countries. Switzerland (38.6%) votes on a weekend and is last. The gap inside each group is bigger than the gap between groups.
- Compulsory voting. Belgium (87.2%) and Australia (79.0%) fine people who do not vote, and both vote on weekends. Without Belgium, Australia, Luxembourg and Greece, which have compulsory or near-compulsory rules, the weekend average falls to 62.6%.
- Dated and mismatched. The turnout figures are from 2012 to 2018. Pew's election-day types are from 2026.
- Registration. The US shows 55.7% of the voting-age population but 86.8% of registered voters. Who is on the rolls changes the story.
What the studies say
The US holiday states. Economist Henry Farber, in a 2009 Princeton working paper, studied the 13 states that give state employees an election-day holiday. He used Census voting surveys from 2004 and 2006 and compared state workers with other workers. He found no statistically significant effect and concluded that a holiday "by itself, is not an effective strategy to increase voter turnout." Holiday states did have higher turnout overall, about 2.2 points in 2004. But so did their non-state workers, so the holiday may not be the cause.
3,217 elections. A dataset of 3,217 national elections in 190 countries from 1945 to 2020, published by Yahoo News Australia, found median turnout around 70% on every day of the week. Sunday averaged 71.6% and Friday 70.0%. The authors concluded the day of the week does not appear to be related to turnout. The data mixes democracies with authoritarian states, which weakens the comparison.
Moving to the weekend. An analysis of democracies since 1945, described by Slate in 2016, found that countries with weekend voting tend to have higher turnout than the US, but adopting weekend voting did not raise turnout within those countries.
The other side. The advocacy group Why Tuesday cites an analysis it does not name that estimates a move from a weekday to a rest day would add 5 to 6 points on average, and about 9 for European Parliament elections. We could not trace that figure to a study.
What happened in Israel
Election day in Israel is a statutory day off under Section 10 of Basic Law: The Knesset. A worker with the same employer for at least 14 consecutive days before the election is entitled to pay for the day. It is not universal. Essential services stay open, and other employers can ask staff to work if they agree. Anyone who works must be allowed to leave to vote.
Turnout has moved a lot. It averaged around 80% until 1999, per the Israel Democracy Institute. It was 67.8% in 2013 and 70.6% in 2022. We found no sign that the day-off rule changed over those years, so the fall from the 1990s is not explained by the holiday going away. Something else moves turnout in Israel more than the holiday does.
A day off means something different in Israel
Most countries on Pew's list have a weekend with two free days. Israel does not work that way. Sunday is a regular working day, and the weekend is Friday and Saturday. For people who keep Shabbat, Saturday is a day of rest, not a day for errands, shopping or trips.
That makes a weekday off a rare free day. It is a day to go somewhere, see family, shop or do things that Shabbat rules out. So in Israel the day off may compete with voting as much as it helps it. People with a free day can vote any time. They can also plan the day around something else.
We found no study that measures this. Two pieces of data fit it loosely, and neither proves it:
- Spending. One news channel, citing Shva, reported debit card spending of 731 million shekels between 08:00 and 14:00 today, 37.5% more than the same hours in 2022. We could not confirm that figure in another outlet.
- Timing. Some voters go early in the morning or late at night to keep the middle of the day free. The committee's two-hour figures show people voting all day, with gains of 11 to 15 points in each window from 10:00 to 18:00. They do not break out the edges of the day, so we cannot confirm the early-or-late pattern.
This is also a reason to be careful with the US comparison. A holiday in the US adds a day to a country with a two-day weekend. In Israel it adds a day to a country where free days are scarce.
Israel today, hour by hour
Israel's Central Elections Committee has been reporting turnout every two hours. Every figure from noon on is the highest recorded for its hour. The 10:00 figure was the highest since 1981.
| Hour | 2026 | 2022, same hour |
|---|---|---|
| 10:00 | 16.7% | 15.9% |
| 12:00 | 31.5% | 28.4% |
| 14:00 | 44.9% | 38.9% |
| 16:00 | 55.7% | 47.5% |
| 18:00 | 66.7% | 57.7% |
At 18:00, four hours before polls close, turnout was already above the 66.3% that 2022 had reached by 20:00. The final 2022 figure was 70.6%. The 2026 final is not in yet. Polls close at 22:00, and anyone in line by then can still vote.
One caution. A surge on a single day cannot show the day off caused it. The figures say nothing about what drove people out.
Why people say they do not vote
In the US, the Census Bureau found in 2014 that about 28% of registered nonvoters said they were too busy to vote, the top answer. A Pew poll that year put work or school conflicts at 35%. Those numbers explain why the day-off idea is popular. But the same article noted more than 35% of nonvoters in households earning over $150,000 said they were too busy, while lower-income nonvoters more often named illness, disability or transportation.
So a day off removes one barrier for some people. It may not reach the people who do not vote for other reasons.
What this means
- A day off is one factor among many. Registration rules, compulsory voting, how close the race is, and how people feel about the parties all move turnout.
- Israel and South Korea are the two best test cases, and they point the same way. But there are only two, Israel's own turnout fell for years with the holiday in place, and a weekday off means something different where Sunday is a work day.
- The better-supported tools are different. Farber found no effect. Research the Slate article cites suggests modest positive effects from automatic and election-day registration.
- Tonight is a live example. Turnout is at record pace with the day off in place. It is not final, and one election cannot settle the question either. See the numbers below.
Sources
- Election Day around the world, Pew Research Center, July 2026
- By international standards, U.S. voter turnout is low, Pew Research Center, 2015
- Do most developed countries hold their elections on a weekend?, Gigafact, citing Pew 2018
- Increasing Voter Turnout: Is Democracy Day the Answer?, Henry Farber, Princeton CEPS Working Paper 181, 2009
- Which day of the week gets the most people to vote?, Yahoo News Australia
- An Election Day holiday might not increase turnout, Slate, 2016
- Evidence, Why Tuesday
- Election Day for the 26th Knesset, Shibolet and Co.
- Voter turnout in Israel, Israel Democracy Institute
- 2022 Israeli legislative election
- Turnout at 31.5% as of noon, Times of Israel, 27 October 2026
- Voter turnout at 66.7% as of 6 p.m., Times of Israel, 27 October 2026
- Israel election turnout shatters records, Ynetnews, 27 October 2026
Frequently asked questions
Does a national holiday on election day increase voter turnout?
Not on its own, based on the evidence we found. A 2009 study of 13 US states that give state workers the day off found no significant effect. A dataset of 3,217 elections found similar turnout on every day of the week.
Which countries make election day a holiday?
Pew counts 16 democracies where a weekday is declared a national holiday, including Israel, South Korea, South Africa and the Philippines.
Do most democracies vote on weekends?
Yes. Pew counts 60 of 106 democracies voting on a Saturday or Sunday and 28 on an ordinary weekday. In the OECD, 27 of 36 vote on a weekend.
Is election day a day off in Israel?
Yes. It is a statutory day off under Section 10 of Basic Law: The Knesset. Workers with the same employer for 14 consecutive days are entitled to pay for it. Essential services stay open.
Cite this page: The Israel Gazette. “Does a Day Off Raise Voter Turnout? Israel and the Democratic World.” Updated 9 October 2026. https://israelgazette.com/election/does-a-day-off-raise-voter-turnout/