In two weeks, the whole United States of America will be doing the same thing at the same time: voting for the next President.

It’s a big deal. As a result, the elections are meticulously planned out and always fall on a Tuesday – the day after the second Monday in November.

But it hasn’t always been this way.

According to Senate Historian Don Ritchie, federal elections weren’t always on Tuesdays, or even on the same day. When the Founding Fathers met for the Constitutional Convention in 1787, they left the chosen election day up to the States, which made for a “crazy quilt of elections” held at all different times, all over the country.

According to NPR:

Finally, in 1845, Congress decided to get things under control. Ritchie says lawmakers reasoned that Monday was out because people would have to travel to the polls in their buggies on Sunday, the Sabbath (this is where the buggies come in). And in a mostly farming society, Wednesday wouldn’t work because that was often market day.

So, Tuesday was the day, and that seemed to work great for 19th century voters. “In the 1840s, elections were a big to-do — there was a lot of hoopla, there were parades,” Ritchie says. “Whole families would come on wagons from the farms, people would get dressed up for the occasion.”

While voting has changed in many ways, two things remain true: your vote is important. And it will happen on a Tuesday.

— Stew

(Photo Credit: National Constitution Center)