Celebrate Your Elected Officials Day 2023: Date, History, Facts, Activities

Celebrate Your Elected Officials Day is observed annually in the United States on May 19. On this day, citizens gather to commemorate their elected officials. City council members, mayors, governors, members of state legislatures, senators, representatives in the United States Congress, and even the President of the United States are elected officials or delegates. Because you and I voted them into power, they have occupied prominent positions in the government. In any democracy, the function of the electorate is at least as important as that of the elected officials. On Celebrate Your Elected Officials Day, we express our gratitude to these representatives.

The background of Celebrate Your Elected Officials Day

Although the origin of Celebrate Your Elected Officials Day is unknown, it is still widely observed as a way to recognise the roles each person performs in ensuring a functional representative democracy. The United States is a representative democracy because federal, state, and local officials are elected through democratic elections to make decisions on behalf of the people. The president is indirectly elected by the populace. Each of the fifty states in the United States is able to elect its own government and pass its own legislation.

In addition, each state has a branch led by a governor, a legislative body, and a judicial branch. The states are subdivided into counties, municipalities, townships, education districts, and special districts at the local level. Their abilities differ greatly between states. Although other parties exist, the United States has a two-party system dominated by the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. Since the middle of the 20th century, the Democratic Party has become synonymous with American liberalism, while the Republican Party has become synonymous with American conservatism.

18-year-olds and older are eligible to participate in the democratic process in the United States. Despite the fact that democracies strive for their elected officials to be representative of the populace, they encounter numerous obstacles, which are typically corruption and inefficiency. Several corporations, wealthy individuals, and other political pressure groups have been accused in the United States of spending significant sums of money on political campaigns. This is cause for concern because they have the ability to sway individual candidates and officeholders to design public policy in their favour, at the expense of the majority of Americans. There are also concerns that members of certain ethnic and religious minority communities do not have the same political opportunities as their majority counterparts. In 2020, the United States was classified as a “flawed democracy,” despite the fact that its elections have historically been regarded as some of the most democratic and peaceful in the world. After being demoted from “full democracy” in 2016, it has remained in this category, according to the Democracy Index. As of 2020, elections in the United States remain relatively more democratic than those in 35 hybrid regimes and 57 authoritarian regimes worldwide.

CELEBRATE YOUR ELECTED OFFICIALS DAY ACTIVITIES

Give them recognition

Observe Celebrate Your Elected Officials Day by recognising your local representative. You can emphasise the great things they have accomplished during their terms by posting about them on your social media accounts.

Request that your peers vote

Additionally, you can observe Celebrate Your Elected Officials Day by encouraging others to participate in elections. It is their democratic responsibility and the only way to ensure they elect representatives who will advocate for their interests.

Communicate with the president by writing to him.

The United States President is also an elected official! On Celebrate Your Elected Officials Day, why not send a letter to the President expressing your approbation (or disapproval) of his administration thus far?

5 FACTS ABOUT THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS IN THE UNITED STATES

Hillary Clinton was the first female nominee of a major political party, but in 1872, Woodhull was the first woman to seek for president of the United States.

At 70 years old, Donald Trump was the eldest candidate to be elected.

The United States has one of the lowest voter participation rates among sophisticated nations, with a rate of approximately 60%.

Approximately 5,1 million Americans with felony convictions will be unable to vote in the 2020 election.

Astronauts are sent the ballot via email.

CELEBRATE YOUR ELECTED OFFICIALS DAY DATES