US elections 2024: why do people vote on Tuesdays in the United States?

You don’t get married or leave from Venus and Mars, but, at least in the latter, in America, you vote. In the mid-nineteenth century, Tuesday was chosen for the US elections because it was the best day for those who worked in the fields. To be precise, voting takes place on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November.

The story of Tuesday in November

Between 1788 and 1845, each state established the date of the electionsit was sufficient that the voting was concluded by the first Wednesday of December. A 1792 law established that voting must be done in the 34 days preceding that date, but that much time made it difficult to collect the results. To standardize the choice, in 1845 it fell on Tuesday. Sunday couldn’t be done because it was dedicated to prayer and it couldn’t even be the day of travel because it had to be the day of reston Wednesdays there was the market, on Mondays it was used to get to the polling station. The month of November was perfect for peasant society: once the harvests were finished, there were fewer commitments for males, whites and landowners, the only ones with the right to vote.

The rules of the elections

The US elections are not repeated, under any circumstances, and they are not skipped. There was also a vote in 1864, at the height of the Civil War. If none of the candidates obtains a majority of electors, the House of Representatives chooses the president from among the three who received the most votes. In 1801 there was a 269-269 tie when the Speaker of the House awarded the victory to Thomas Jefferson and in 1825 to John Quincy Adams.

Each state decides independently whether to let those who have had a conviction vote. In Vermont and Maine everyone votes regardless of their criminal record. In Florida, Kentucky and Iowa, those with a conviction do not vote. In between all the others in which the right to vote is also linked to the type of crime committed.

Here is everything you need to know about the US election system.

The alternative vote: by post and in advance

There is, in almost all states and in different forms, the possibility of voting in advance, with polling stations already open in the days preceding the election and also by post. Covid has made this possibility even more important, to avoid gatherings many have chosen alternative forms of voting. For the 2024 elections, more than 50 million voters chose him. In 2020 this method reached a record 66.4 million cards. The postal one is particularly contested by President Trump who has repeatedly spoken of possible fraud.

With early voting, possible in 47 states, queues on election day are avoided and those who have to work do not go to vote. Alabama, Mississippi and New Hampshire do not allow early votingunless there are specific reasons.