It's not really a holiday - It's an honor!

I totally agree with the fact that Election Day should be a national state & federal holiday in every state and colony of our union. The only people who should be working are the Election Commissions, their staff, and volunteers. For all the talk of patriotism, "country first", and responsibility for our great nation, there is no greater act than fulfilling your privledge to select your government representatives, or to show the importance of that act to the youth of America... or even, to have the opportunity to consciously object from it all without having other grounds for that objection.

However, many issues have been expressed threaten to keep the process less than equitable. But there are some pretty common sense steps that can make it as fair as possible...

Firstly, you have to acknowledge that there are some employment sectors of our great country, that regardless of whether it's a holiday or not, will still need to go to work. Many of these are service jobs, some critical (police, fire, etc.), and some not-so-much (gas stations, food service/groceries, etc.).
Although I am very hesitant to restrict employers or businesses in any unreasonable way, I think it should be the responsibility of an employer who does not give their employee reasonable time to vote in their appropriate polling location, without penalty from their compensation, to provide an avenue to vote in some other fashion (placing absentee ballot applications on the breakroom table, for example), where early voting is not available, or offered at times that are appropriate within the compensated schedule.
And this issue holds true regardless of the day on which an election is held. I've seen the suggestions of moving the election to a weekend. But, this is still relevant on weekend day - Police and Fire departments still work weekends, and restaurants and television stations are still running. Oh, and people will be less likely to vote on a weekend day, because most people have plans on weekends. It's true. There's no way around that fact. So the whole weekend thing is a BAD idea. We should totally just stick to making TUESDAY a state & national holiday.

Secondly, I think there is a major issue with the organization of state voting and the variation of voting laws from state to state. It's interesting how one person in one state is subject to a specific set of restrictions, on who can vote, the time, date, place, and how their vote is to be cast. While in another state, the rules that apply are completely different. Yet in the end, those two people are supposed to carry the same weight as equal votes? I doubt that to be the case.
For the majority of state issues, due to each state's individual characteristics and special needs in specific areas, I am greatly in favor of state autonomy. But in such an important area as equality in the selection of a representative of the nation, that stands for the country and all of its citizens (more or less) equally, but there needs to be a more uniform process of voter selection, and vote tallying/accumulation, and definitely of certification of elections.
I don't understand why, on an issue such as voting, where the nation (and some states in particular) has been so shamed and embarrassed before, the national politicians can't rally for a more uniform and transparent process for voting, from start to finish. I understand that everyone wants to be in control somewhere, at sometime... but give me a break. Doesn't it just get to the point where everyone is running around like a chicken with their head cut off, trying to get something in somewhere, by someone? But I digress...
I did want to point to the direction of "independent" state election commissions by partisan politicians. Does anyone know of a state where election commissions are mandated to be bipartisan, with bipartisan verification of election results? Or any other non-one-party system? I think this might do wonders for transparency in the outcomes of elections.

Anyway, I did want to say that I totally support the foundation of a national & state voting holiday. But I seriously think more than just taking a day off of work, we should all be contacting our state and US senators & representatives, and telling them that we want a state & national holiday for election day, and why... that might get things going.