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VOTE! Vote like the wind!

vote!

Okay, youse guys, we have ourselves a long shot today. But when has the likelihood of failure ever stopped us from making a futile gesture in the direction of our hopes and dreams? Frequently, that’s who! So let’s get out there and shake our fists at inevitability one more time!

So why do we vote on the first Tuesday in November? We don’t. We vote on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November. Srsly.

Per 1792 law, states have 34 days before the first Wednesday in December to choose their electors. But the actual date wasn’t fixed. States could vote anytime inside that thirty four days. Imagine! If you like our primary elections, if you love exit polls, you can see how great this plan worked out. In close elections, the last state to vote picked the president.

So they decided to nail the day down in 1844. The first Tuesday in November is just inside 34 days before the first Wednesday in December unless Tuesday falls on the first, in which case it doesn’t. So it’s the first Tuesday after the first Monday. Simple!

Why November? It’s after the harvest but before the snows. Why Tuesday? Well, Wikipedia says it took most people driving a horse and buggy a day to get into town, a day to vote and a day to get home again. Couldn’t interfere with Sunday, and Wednesday was market day. But that doesn’t make any sense, because if it took them a day to get back, that’s screwing up Wednesday, isn’t it? So why not Thursday-Friday-Saturday? So I’m going to say that part is a great mystery, like the Brown Mountain Lights and aerosol cheese.

Sweaseldotcom — the Website for People Too Butt-Lazy to Type “http://wikipedia.org” For Themselves!

November 4, 2008 — 9:14 am
Comments: 121