Newspaper clipping from the inimitable Bad Newspaper. I can understand that some events have to be held X weeks before other events, but why not on the first Tuesday of the month? Why a first Tuesday after a first Monday? Clearly they don't want the activity held if the Tuesday is the first day of the month. Does this have something to do with federal holidays?
"By 1792, federal law permitted each state to choose Presidential electors any time within a 34-day period before the first Wednesday in December... Tuesday was chosen as Election Day so that voters could attend church on Sunday, travel to the polling location (usually in the county seat) on Monday, and vote before Wednesday, which was usually when farmers would sell their produce at the market... Congress chose the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November to harmonize current electoral practice with the existing 34-day window in federal law, as the span between Election Day and the first Wednesday in December is always 29 days."-- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Election_Day_(United_States)
ReplyDeleteThank you HalJor. That clearly is the answer. I wonder how much of that is relevant to the modern world.
DeleteLike most of the original Constitution, the reasoning behind the rules no longer applies. The Senate as a whole for example (an institution so radically anti-democratic that they had to write a whole new amendment to make it even slightly responsive to the public), or the age requirements for office, or the lifetime appointments of justices. The success of the United States as a whole has created a sort of fetishization of the document, despite its obvious flaws and omissions.
DeleteThe major objection to modernizing the Constitution is that we would likely end up with something just as bad if not worse.
A lot of businesses have a lot of closing at then end/beginning of every month. Having a week to accomplish this lets everyone have a chance to vote. Cause God forbid you can't bill someone for something immediately.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the mention, MinnesotaStan! As always, TYWKIWDBI is one of my first stops on my internet journey.
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