This year, people are voting for mail. Our school isn't being used as a voting place but we still get the day off. Yay! It's an important election for many reasons. It will be interesting to see what happens.
But I was wondering why election day is on a Tuesday. Seems kind of weird to stick it in the middle of the week.
Found an answer on History.com. States used be able to have their elections anytime within 34-period before the first Wednesday in December. But this was a problem knowing early voting results could affect the votes in states that voted later.
In 1845, Congress decided to make a specific day election day to avoid the problem.
The reason why Tuesday was chosen was because at that time many US citizens were farmers. Wednesdays were usually market days. Most people went to church on Sundays. To get to voting places, people often had to travel for a couple of day. That's how they ended up with Tuesday. Why November? Spring and summer were usually when famers were busy planting. Late summer and early fall, they would be harvesting. November would have been right after harvest time and before the harsh winter.
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