ELECTION DAY ACROSS THE US

Mapping class cancellation

Have you ever wondered which colleges and universities observe some form of class cancellation on Election Day? We’ve got you covered! The map below displays schools that fall somewhere on the cancellation spectrum. A Day On Democracy classification represents the highest form of engagement on Election Day from an institution of higher education. Unsuccessful attempts represent cases in which an institution has decided not to recognize the promise of Election Day.

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, there are 3,921 degree-granting postsecondary institutions in the United States. Approximately 115 or 2.9% of those colleges and universities cancel classes on Election Day.

This map, best viewed on desktop, is a work in progress and we invite collaboration on data collection from individuals and organizations. If you know a school that should be on the map, please reach out. The next map update is scheduled for January 2024.

Understanding the trend

Seven categories of related but sufficiently distinct cases emerged from our review of the data. The categories are as follows:

Day On Democracy (red): We look for three indicators to classify a case as a Day On Democracy: institutional support for programming; explicit intent for a day of civic and community engagement in place of classes on Election Day; and commitment to the first two indicators for every November General Election, not only federal elections.

Successful Student-led Cancellation Efforts (bright green): Student advocates brought about consideration and eventual adoption of class cancellation on Election Day.

Administrator or Faculty-established Cancellation Efforts (blue): Administrators or faculty drove discussion and adoption of class cancellation on Election Day.

In Observance of State Holiday or Law (dark blue): Absent any evidence of the contrary, class cancellation on Election Day at these institutions is likely due to Election Day’s status as a state holiday where the institution is located.

Ongoing (green): These efforts recently appeared in the media and are ongoing. Our team regularly monitors in-progress cases for developments.

One-time Pandemic Cancellation (pink): Some colleges and universities canceled Election Day classes in November 2020 but did not cancel before then and haven’t done so since. These institutions gave two main reasons for this approach: the need for an additional break in a compressed fall semester due to pandemic-induced calendar changes and to facilitate voting and poll working opportunities in a challenging voting environment.

Unsuccessful Attempts (purple): Every attempt is valuable for the debate it generates around voting rights, barriers to participation, and community engagement. However, advocates experience more resistance on some campuses than others. We label efforts that fell short of their main objective as unsuccessful attempts.

Election Day as a state holiday

According to The Book of the States 2021, a number of states observe Election Day as a paid state holiday. These states include Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Montana, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Virginia, and West Virginia. Some public institutions in these states close for Election Day. Cancellations are nevertheless uneven, with public institutions such as Ramapo College of New Jersey and Fairmont State University in West Virginia holding classes. While Election Day isn’t a state holiday in South Carolina, Section 59-1-370 of the state’s Code of Laws calls for the closure of all public institutions on Election Day in even-numbered years.

Our team continues to review the academic calendars of public institutions in states with Election Day holidays.