Why do Americans vote on Tuesdays?

Translator: Nela Kolcakova Reviewer: Linda Magáthová

I want to tell you all about a piece of American history

Chcel by som vám porozprávať o kúsku americkej histórie,

that is so secret,

ktorý je taký tajomný,

that nobody has done anything about it for 167 years,

že s ním nikto nič nerobil už 167 rokov,

until right now.

až doteraz.

And the way that we're going to uncover this vestigial organ of America past

A spôsob, akým odhalíme núdzový orgán americkej minulosti, je,

is by asking this question:

že sa opýtame túto otázku:

Why?

Prečo?

As we all know --

Ako všetci vieme...

(Laughter)

(smiech)

we are in the middle of another presidential election,

sme uprostred ďalších prezidentských volieb

veľmi napínavých, ako môžete vidieť.

hotly contested, as you can see.

(Laughter)

But what you may not know is that American voter turnout

(smiech)

Ale asi neviete, že americká volebná účasť

ranks near the bottom of all countries in the entire world,

je takmer úplne na spodku svetových rebríčkov –

138th of 172 nations.

138. zo 172 krajín.

This is the world's most famous democracy.

Toto je tá svetovo najslávnejšia demokracia.

So ...

Takže...

Why do we vote on Tuesday?

Prečo volíme v utorok?

Does anybody know?

Vie to niekto?

And as a matter of fact, Michigan and Arizona are voting today.

Mimochodom, Michigan a Arizona volia dnes.

Here's the answer:

Tu je odpoveď:

Absolutely no good reason whatsoever.

Nie je na to vôbec žiadny dobrý dôvod.

(Laughter)

(smiech)

I'm not joking.

Nežartujem.

You will not find the answer in the Declaration of Independence,

Odpoveď nenájdete ani v Deklarácii nezávislosti,

nor will you find it in the Constitution.

ani v Ústave.

It is just a stupid law from 1845.

Je to len hlúpy zákon z roku 1845.

(Laughter)

(smiech)

In 1845, Americans traveled by horse and buggy.

V roku 1845 Američania cestovali na koňoch a kočoch.

As did I, evidently.

A očividne, aj ja.

It took a day to get to the county seat to vote, a day to get back,

Cesta do krajského mesta, kde sa volilo, trvala deň, naspäť takisto

and you couldn't travel on the Sabbath, so, Tuesday it was.

a nemohli ste cestovať na deň Pána, zostal utorok.

I don't often travel by horse and buggy, I would imagine most of you don't,

Veľmi často necestujem na koni a koči a väčšina z vás asi tiež nie,

so when I found out about this, I was fascinated.

takže keď som toto zistil, fascinovalo ma to.

I linked up with a group called, what else -- "Why Tuesday?"

Spojil som sa so skupinou s názvom, ako inak, „Prečo utorok?“,

to go and ask our nation's most prominent elected leaders

aby sme sa išli opýtať našich najprominentnejších lídrov,

if they knew the answer to the question,

či vedia odpoveď na otázku:

"Why do we vote on Tuesday?"

„Prečo volíme v utorok?“

(Video) Rick Santorum: Anybody knows? OK, I'm going to be stumped on this.

(video) Rick Santorum: Viete to niekto? Okej, na tomto som sa zasekol.

Anybody knows why we vote on Tuesdays?

Viete niekto, prečo volíme v utorok?

Jacob Soboroff: Do you happen to know? Ron Paul: On Tuesdays?

Jocob Soboroff: Vy to viete? Ron Paul: V utorok?

JS: The day after the first Monday in November.

JS: Deň po prvom pondelku v novembri.

RP: I don't know how that originated.

RP: Neviem, z čoho to pochádza.

JS: Do you know why we do vote on Tuesday? Newt Gingrich: No.

JS: Viete, prečo volíme v utorok?

Dick Lugar: No, I don't. (Laughter)

Dick Lugar: Nie, neviem. (smiech)

Dianne Feinstein: I don't. Darrell Issa: No.

Dianne Feinstein: Neviem. Darrel Issa: Nie.

John Kerry: In truth, really, I'm not sure why.

John Kerry: Pravdupovediac, nie som si istý prečo.

JS: OK, thanks very much.

JS: Dobre, ďakujem pekne.

(Laughter)

(smiech)

JS: These are people that live for election day,

JS: Toto sú ľudia, ktorí žijú pre volebný deň,

yet they don't know why we vote on that very day.

a aj tak nevedia, prečo volíme práve v ten deň.

(Laughter)

(smiech)

Chris Rock said, "They don't want you to vote.

Chris Rock povedal: „Nechcú, aby ste volili.

If they did, we wouldn't vote on a Tuesday in November.

Keby to chceli, nevolili by sme v novembrový utorok.

Have you ever thrown a party on a Tuesday?

Už ste niekedy usporiadali oslavu v utorok?

(Laughter)

(smiech)

No, of course not. Nobody would show up."

Nie, jasné, že nie. Nikto by tam neprišiel.“

(Laughter)

(smiech)

Here's the cool part.

A teraz tá super časť.

Because we asked this question, "Why Tuesday?"

Pretože sme sa opýtali otázku: „Prečo utorok?“,

there is now this bill, the Weekend Voting Act

v Kongrese Spojených štátov je teraz

in the Congress of the United States of America.

návrh zákona – Zákon o volení cez víkend.

It would move election day from Tuesday to the weekend,

Ten by presunul volebný deň z utorka na víkend,

so that -- duh -- more people can vote.

aby predsa mohlo prísť voliť viac ľudí.

(Applause)

(potlesk)

It has only taken 167 years,

Trvalo to iba 167 rokov,

but finally, we are on the verge of changing American history.

ale konečne sme na pokraji zmeny americkej histórie.

Thank you very much.

Ďakujem veľmi pekne.

(Applause)

(potlesk)

Thanks a lot.

Naozaj ďakujem.

(Applause)

(potlesk)