In this 2024, Americans are called to the polls for the presidential elections on November 5th. Why November 5th?
Now, these are the sixtieth on the program elections presidential Americans. The first 15 saw the polls open for a very long period, about a month. The citizens, the voters, were given time to go to the polling stations, indicatively almost always having the month of November as a reference, because it was considered the least demanding from a working point of view for the farmers, for the breeders, who at the time were those who in some way they governed the country economically.
In 1845 a specific law was enacted to reduce voting practices to just one day: it was decided to keep the month of November and to vote on Tuesday. Why? Simple: Sunday is the day dedicated to the Lord; on Monday he still had to be left free to go to the places where there are polling stations; and Tuesday instead was considered the right day.
So it was decided for “the first Tuesday after the first Monday of November of the leap year”. Now, why does the formula include “the first Tuesday after the first Monday” and not simply “the first Tuesday”? Because if so, it could coincide with All Saints’ Day when November 1st falls on a Tuesday. And this is not good, because All Saints’ Day must be dedicated to religious matters.
And therefore “the first Tuesday after the first Monday of the month” of November 2024 is November 5th.
Mauro della Porta Raffo, Honorary President of the Italy USA Foundation
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The article The USA in numbers: why do we vote “on the first Tuesday after the first Monday”? comes from Nicola Porro.