Today , Iowans will kick off the Republican nominating process for president of the United States with the first-in-the-nation caucuses . But why a Tuesday ? The short answer : We vote on Tuesday for absolutely no good reason . This is true especially when you consider the United States , arguably the world 's most famous democracy , has ranked near the bottom of all nations in voter participation for more than half a century . And that 's not because , as Mitt Romney suggested to me last month , we need great candidates to increase voter turnout . Heard of JFK ? Reagan ? The little-bit-longer answer : We vote on Tuesday because of a law passed in 1845 meant to make voting convenient for Americans traveling by horse and buggy . Seriously . When Congress set out to pick a day for Americans to vote , ultimately settling on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November , voting could take two days : a day to get to the county seat to vote and a day to get back for market day on Wednesday . They could n't travel on the Christian sabbath , so by process of elimination , Tuesday , the first convenient day of the week , was chosen . It was as simple as that . In 2012 , it 's as dumb as that . Just a few weeks ago I sat in Tom Thumb diner in Fort Dodge , Iowa , and as I looked out the window in one of the most fertile farming states in our country , I did n't notice a single Iowan hitting the highway in a horse-drawn carriage . So why are we still voting on a day set for a time when slavery was legal , only white males voted , less than half of our 50 states had been established and `` automobile '' was a made-up word ? Since World War II , American voter turnout has averaged under 50 % in federal elections . In 2008 , with unprecedented excitement about the presidential campaign and record money spent by the candidates , voter turnout was about 64 % , not a record , and a third of all eligible voters did n't make it to the polls . To understand the benefits to democracy of weekend voting , all you need to do is look at the nations with the highest voter turnout and realize they vote on weekends or national holidays . In an America where 45 million 18- to 29-year-olds , the largest potential voting bloc in the country , are in school or at work all day , where single parents have to take care of their kids , and many of us , as much as we want to , are prevented by other obligations from making it to the polls in the middle of the week , it 's clear it 's time to move Election Day to the weekend . Critics and contrarians say that in an age of early and absentee voting , moving Election Day to the weekend is n't necessary . Indeed , that 's exactly what Newt Gingrich said when I met him after my recent meal in Fort Dodge . But as I politely reminded him , absentee and early voting is not allowed in the Iowa caucuses . In about 14 other states , regular voting is still only Tuesday -- and in person , if you do n't have an approved excuse . You do n't have to remind me that moving Election Day is n't a pocketbook or kitchen table issue . I 'm well aware election reform could n't be less sexy or more wonky . Just last week I was asked by Simon Conway , the Iowa radio host , if the push to move Election Day was a `` serious campaign . '' I paraphrased what Thomas Paine once said : Voting is the right upon which all other rights are protected . That 's exactly why Ambassador Andrew Young , congressional scholar Norman J. Ornstein and Drum Major Institute Chairman Bill Wachtel founded WhyTuesday.org , why U.S. Rep. Steve Israel , D-New York , and Sen. Herb Kohl , D-Wisconsin , have introduced the Weekend Voting Act into Congress to move Election Day to Saturday and Sunday , and why I went to Iowa in December to ask our presidential candidates what they 'd do to protect our right to vote . Although he did n't know why we vote when we do , 2012 candidate Rick Santorum said it best : `` I do n't think there 's anything magical about Tuesdays . '' Any teenager will tell you that when your computer starts running slow , you do n't sit around and hope that it fixes itself . You upgrade your operating system . The operating system of our nation , our democracy , is broken . There 's certainly no silver bullet that will increase American voter participation . But we 've voted on the same day for 166 years . Our voter turnout is terrible . It 's time the United States upgrades to a voting system 2.0 , and we should start with weekend voting .
Jacob Soboroff : The U.S. ranks near the bottom of all nations in voter participation . Soboroff : Tuesday was set in 1845 , to help voters traveling by horse and buggy . Nations with highest voter turnout hold elections on weekends or holidays , he writes . He says weekend elections would help those in school or working to vote more easily .