Washington, Nov 5
In the United States, voting for the presidential election began today at 7 a.m. Both candidates, Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump are in a close race. Meanwhile, an interesting question arises: why does the U.S. always hold its election on the first Tuesday of November?
In the U.S., voting for the presidential election takes place on only one day. Every four years, the tradition is to hold elections on the first Tuesday of November. However, few people know when and how this tradition began. Let’s take a look at why the entire U.S. votes on the first Tuesday of November.
It’s a rule in the U.S. that the presidential election takes place on the first Tuesday of November, as outlined in the U.S. Constitution.
The tradition of voting on the Tuesday following the first Monday in November dates back nearly 180 years. At that time, states were given a period of 34 days to conduct the vote, with voting needing to be completed by the first Wednesday in December. However, this created several issues.
What is the history of the American electoral system?
Unlike India’s centralized electoral process, the U.S. election process is decentralized. The Federal Election Commission oversees campaign finance laws, while state and local authorities manage the election process. Each state sets its own rules on voter eligibility, ballot design, and counting procedures, leading to considerable variations across the country. However, the date for the presidential election remains the same nationwide — the first Tuesday of November.
Until the mid-19th century, each state in the U.S. voted on a different day, as long as the voting took place before the Electoral College meeting in December. In the 1844 presidential election, voting stretched from early November to December. Some felt that this system was inefficient.
In 1845, the U.S. Congress passed an act to set a single date for the presidential and vice-presidential elections. The act specified that the date should be “the Tuesday following the first Monday of November.” But why Tuesday? And why the first Tuesday of November? There’s a story behind this choice.
Why are elections held on Tuesday?
In those days, the U.S. was still a young country, less than 100 years old, and most of its population were farmers. November was chosen because it didn’t fall during the busy spring planting season or the autumn harvest season. It was also before the onset of winter.
Most farmers lived in remote rural areas, far from polling stations in towns, requiring a long journey to vote that took a full day. Deciding on an election day required careful consideration. Sunday was unsuitable because Christians attended church that day. Wednesday was market day, when farmers were busy selling crops and other goods.
Traveling on Sunday or Wednesday was difficult, so Monday and Thursday were also ruled out. Tuesday ended up being the most convenient choice. Thus, it was decided that voting would take place on the first Tuesday of November.
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