Why We Vote on Tuesday

Do you know why, every year, general elections are held the first Tuesday following the first Monday in November? The answer lies with America’s farmers and in the year 1845.

Prior to 1845 – before Florida, California, and Texas were states or slavery had been abolished – states were allowed to hold elections any time they pleased within a 34-day period before the first Wednesday in December, which was the day set for the meeting of the electors of the U.S. president and vice president.

However, this system wasn’t very streamlined and had one crucial flaw: knowing early voting results could affect turnout and sway opinion in states that held late elections, which meant last-minute voters could potentially decide the outcomes of an entire national election. Congress recognized that citizens of the United States needed to vote on the same day.

But on what day?

At the time, the nation was an agrarian society that traveled by horse and buggy, according to Why Tuesday?, a non-partisan organization founded in 2005 to honor the 40th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and to raise awareness about America’s low voter turnout. In 1845, and for many years after that, only the county seats had polling places. Therefore, it took time for farmers to get there and vote – they needed a day to get to the county seat, a day to vote, and a day to get back, all of which had to be done without interfering with their three days of worship. That meant, for religious reasons, that weekends, and the days before and after them, were impractical, so that left midweek days. And since Wednesday was considered market day in many towns, it was decided that Tuesday would be the best day to hold the election.

But on what Tuesday?

Spring and early summer elections were thought to interfere with the planting season, and late summer and early fall elections overlapped with the harvest. That left the late fall month of November – after the harvest was complete, when the majority of the nation’s weather was still mild enough to permit travel over unpaved roads, and before the arrival of harsh winter weather – as the best choice.

But on what Tuesday in November?

Congress wanted to make sure the election never fell on the first day of November, which is a Holy Day of Obligation in the Roman Catholic Church (All Saints Day). Plus, many businesses tallied their sales and expenses that day – they did their books for the previous month on the first of each month. Congress reportedly feared that an unusually good or bad economic month might influence the vote if the first Tuesday fell on the first of the month … Therefore; the bill was reworded to move the date to the first Tuesday after the first Monday.

In the end, congress created the current Election Day in the hop of streamlining the voting process and, in 1845, passed a federal law designating the first Tuesday following the first Monday in November as Election Day. In 1875, Congress extended the Tuesday date for national House elections and in 1914 for federal Senate elections.