Why are General Elections held on the 1st Tuesday of November?

Congress had passed legislation permitting states to hold elections any time within a 34-day period before the first Wednesday in December. However, this approach had a crucial flaw in that the results from states holding early election could affect turnout and opinion in states that held later elections, d potentially deciding outcomes of presidential, congressional as well as statewide and even local races. As a result in 1845, Congress passed legislation mandating the first Tuesday following the first Monday in November as the general Election Day.

But why a Tuesday in November?

In colonial America, elections varied per colony and locality. Northern colonies held elections in mid-spring or early fall so as to avoid snow limiting those traveling horseback of up to twenty five miles or more to reach the polls. 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 people spent Sundays in church and Wednesday was the typical market day. With this in mind, Tuesday was selected as the convenient day of the week to hold elections but there was no consistency between colonies nor later states as to which Tuesday elections were held.

Farm culture also explains why 18th and 19th elections were held sometime in November. Spring and early summer elections were thought to interfere with the planting season, and late summer and early fall elections overlapped with the harvest. That left the late fall month of November—after the harvest was complete, but before the arrival of harsh winter weather—as the best choice.