NPR - Sandusky, Ohio, is a small city on the shores of Lake Erie. It's best known among Midwesterners as the home of Cedar Point, an amusement park famed for its abundance of roller coasters.
But last week city leaders took steps that could make Sandusky known as a leader of democracy, too: They declared Election Day a paid holiday – by swapping out Columbus Day.
"A lot's happened in the last three years that had us thinking a lot about voter access and democracy, and so we thought it was a really natural switch," Sandusky City Manager Eric Wobser tells NPR. The move was first reported by the Sandusky Register. Columbus, Ohio, Is Not Observing Columbus Day This Year National Columbus, Ohio, Is Not Observing Columbus Day This Year
In a national political climate where so much is fiercely contentious, was the holiday swap really as easy as that?
Wobser says it was, and it wasn't.
In 2014 negotiations with the unions that represent police, firefighters, and municipal workers, the city suggested dropping Columbus Day, but giving up a paid holiday was a non-starter, Wobser says. So when negotiations for 2019-2021 started up last year, the city had a new proposal: replacing Columbus Day with Election Day.
The unions agreed.
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