US elections: Since the mid-nineteenth century, the US has had its Election Day on the first Tuesday after the first Monday of November — a choice dictated by the nature of the US economy, the Christian faith of most of its citizens, and criticisms of the previous system. Month-long elections Until 1845, states were allowed to hold elections at any time within a 34-day period before the Electoral College met to certify the next President in December. In 1844, for instance, the presidential election was held over a one-month period between early November and early December. In 1845, Congress passed a law to set a single election day for the entire country. There were two main reasons behind this. * By the mid-1800s, states were expanding the right to vote to non-landowning white men who were above the age of 21. This significantly increased the scale of elections, and led to calls for streamlining the voting process. * Critics of the previous system believed that having more dispersed elections led to situations where early voting and declaration of results in some states impacted the turnout and voting behaviour in states which cast their ballot on a later date. Initially, the law pertained only to presidential elections. But its scope was later expanded to also include Congressional and other elections as well. Choice of a single day for elections in US The question then was which day should be chosen as Election Day. The US in the nineteenth century was predominantly an agrarian country, and most voters resided in rural areas. They figured prominently in Congress’ choice of a date. November was chosen as the month of voting because it did not coincide with the busy spring planting season or the autumn harvest. And the harsh winter was a month or more away. The choice of day was trickier, based on both religious and economic considerations. Given that many rural voters had to travel all day to cast their ballot in the nineteenth century, Sunday, Monday, and Saturday were ruled out, because that would lead to people missing church. Wednesday was ruled out because it was a popular market day across the country, when farmers travelled to nearby towns and cities to sell their produce. Ultimately, Congress settled on the first Tuesday after the first Monday. This was to prevent Election Day from falling on November 1, when Christians observed All Saints’ Day and merchants typically settled their books from the previous month. In recent years, the choice of this day has copped criticism with less than 12% of the US now in agriculture, and people having to miss work to cast their vote.
