But why a Tuesday in November?
The answer stems from the agrarian makeup of 19th-century America. In the 1800s, most citizens worked as farmers and lived far from their polling place.
Since people often traveled at least a day to vote, lawmakers needed to allow a two-day window for Election Day. Weekends were impractical, since most people spent Sundays in church, and Wednesday was market day for farmers. With this in mind, Tuesday was selected as the first and most convenient day of the week to hold elections.
Farm culture also explains why Election Day always falls in November. 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, but before the arrival of harsh winter weather—as the best choice.
Who Can Vote in U.S. Elections?
From 1776 to 1924, citizens and noncitizens alike were allowed to vote in federal, state and local elections in 33 states. Giving noncitizens the right to vote was seen as an incentive to attract workers and populate new states and Western territories.
By the 1920s, however, many states began denying noncitizens the right to vote. In 1996, Congress passed a law that prohibits noncitizens from voting in federal elections, including elections for the House of Representatives, the Senate and presidential elections. The law, however, does not apply to state and local elections.
An estimated 28 million people are living in the United States as noncitizens, including 11.9 million legal permanent residents and 2.1 million legal temporary residents (such as students, tourists, foreign workers and foreign officials). There are also about 14 million immigrants living in the United States without legal permission, according to the Pew Research Center.
Is Election Day a Federal Holiday?
Election Day is not a federal holiday in the United States, though there are many officials who support that idea, as it would allow people to vote without missing work. Dozens of states, however, have a statute that requires employers to give their workers time off—either paid or unpaid—to go to polling centers to vote.
Currently, Election Day is recognized as a civic holiday in states and territories including Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Montana, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Puerto Rico, Virginia and West Virginia.
Other proposals to boost voter turnout include having elections take place over several days or allowing voting to take place by absentee ballots or online.
