U.S. Election: Why Vote on Tuesday

U.S. Election: Why Vote on Tuesday (Alberta Times) The 2012 U.S. presidential election will be held on Tuesday, November 6. Why Americans vote on Tuesday…

US Election: Why Americans vote on Tuesday (Alberta Times) The 2012 US presidential election will be held on Tuesday, November 6th. Why do Americans vote on Tuesday? Whether it is a presidential election every four years or a congressional election every two years, national elections in the United States are always held on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November. To understand this problem we have to go back to American society before 1845. It was an agricultural society at that time, and people went out by horse-drawn carriage. At that time, there were a variety of election days in each state, and voting days varied greatly between states. Dr. Rich, director of the U.S. Senate History Office, said that many problems have arisen. Dr. Rich said: "Because it was an agricultural society at that time, people had to go to the polling station for a long time. The voting time could last for several weeks, and it was still like this at the beginning of the 19th century. Some people went to one county to vote, and then drove the carriage to another county to vote. This led to a lot of election fraud." In 1845, Congress passed a law to set a national voting day. The first presidential election after this law was passed was in 1848. ​​ But why are the national unified elections held in November? And why was it held on Tuesday? For the agricultural society at that time, the autumn harvest had just ended in November, and the weather was not too cold, so there was just enough time to vote. Election Day was set on Tuesday because people had to drive horse-drawn carriages to the county seat to vote. People have to go to church on Sunday. If they set out on Monday, they can only arrive at the voting location on Tuesday. Even so, we may have questions. Based on these considerations, wouldn’t it be enough to choose the first Tuesday in November? Why is it the first Tuesday after the first Monday? This is so that Election Day does not fall on November 1st. Because November 1st is All Saints Day, which is an important Catholic holiday. However, the United States is not an agricultural society now, and we also have convenient transportation. We don’t have to drive horse-drawn carriages to vote. Can we switch to weekend voting? Dr. Rich said: "In fact, it is difficult for us to find a voting day that everyone is satisfied with. People are used to voting on Tuesday, so I think this situation will continue." Now many states in the United States have allowed early voting a few weeks ago, but the tradition of Tuesday voting day still has a very important significance. The campaign has been going on for a long time by this time. The election results will be announced on voting day, which is like the end of a drama, which is exciting.