Election Day Now Municipal Holiday In Birmingham

BIRMINGHAM, AL — With the general election less than a week away, Birmingham mayor Randall Woodfin declared that the first Tuesday of November during a presidential election year will be a municipal holiday in Birmingham.

The Birmingham City Council unanimously approved Woodfin's declaration Tuesday. The Election Day holiday for Birmingham is effective Nov. 3 this year.

"It’s always been my belief that a goal of every elected official should be to make voting easier, not harder," Woodfin said. "Over the past few years, we have seen different tactics used to attempt to erode and make more difficult our ability to vote in this country. To me, that’s just plain unacceptable."

The aim of Election Day becoming a holiday is to allow city workers a day off work to vote, Woodfin said. "Instead of a day worrying about trying to carve out time to go vote, we’re turning Election Day into a celebration of our democracy," he said.

The municipal holiday will, however, be an unpaid holiday. The newly declared holiday means City Hall will be closed, with the city council meeting scheduled for that day pushed to Wednesday, Nov. 4.