Millions of the people in the US are heading to the polls all over the country to choose their next President. Either Donald Trump, the current president is going to be reelected or the Democrat candidate Joe Biden will get elected. The world is eagerly waiting for the results as it is one of the most anticipated events of 2020.
Now, a question may arise about why the election always takes place on a Tuesday. As reported by the Daily Star till 1845, the states in the US used to hold the election on different days. They had the option of choosing any date within a 34-day period that ended on the first Wednesday in December.
Election on Tuesday
November was considered the best month for voting as by that time the harvesting would have ended but severe winter weather, which might have made going to the polls difficult, would not have arrived. The new president would be chosen after all the states had completed the voting. In 1844, the electric telegraph got invented, which made instant communication nationwide possible and led to the fears that the results in one state can influence people who were yet to cast their votes.
Responding to this, Congress took a decision to set a national US Election Day on which all the people will vote. They chose Tuesday after the first Monday in the month of November. Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays were believed to be the days of worship and Wednesday was the market day. It could take a day for the people living in the rural areas to travel to bigger towns for casting their votes so Tuesday was decided as the most convenient day.
Following this way, people could attend the church on Sunday and travel to the polling station on Monday for voting on Tuesday. The Congress also wanted to avoid All Saint's Day, which is a Catholic holiday that happens on November 1. An organization named 'Why Tuesday?' is in favor of making a change to the day of the election to the weekend. Most of the people have to work on Tuesday, which makes it difficult to go to a polling station. There were also suggestions that Election Day be declared a federal holiday.
