October 25, 2016
PUBLISHER’S CORNER
By Eloise Graham
Election Day
My first presidential election in which I was eligible to vote was 1968. I lived in Michigan at the time. To become registered, my husband and I went to this little farmhouse out in the country and showed our drivers licenses. We
then voted. That was sure different than when we had registered previously when we lived in Kansas. There we went to a City Hall and had to have three forms of identification. That opened my eyes to the realization that there was a
vast array of differences of governmental practices in our wonderful country.
I don’t understand the Electoral College, but there is something about the chosen electors of each state meeting on the first Wednesday after the first Monday of December to cast their respective votes. The general election has to take place within 34 days prior to aforesaid Wednesday. With that in mind, Congress mandated a uniform date for presidential and congressional elections. Prior to this mandate, some states would hold their elections at different times within the 34-day period. The results of earlier elections could alter the voting turnout or results of later elections. So Congress decided there should be only one day as Election Day.
But why on a Tuesday? In the 1800s, most American citizens worked as farmers living some distance 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 of the population spent Sunday in Church. Wednesday was often market day for the farmers. Considering this, Tuesday was selected as the most convenient day of the week to hold elections. Again, the agricultural society dictated why November should be chosen. Spring and early summer
elections were thought to interfere with the planting season. Late summer and fall elections overlapped with the harvest time. That left the late fall month of November – after the
harvest was complete but before the harsh winter weather.
Congress may have mandated one day as Election Day, but did you know that 37 states have early voting? Some of them as much as 50 days early; others only four or five days in advance. Absentee voting is also available… so there is no reason for any citizen not to vote! It is your right, privilege
and duty!
