Most voters have to work on Tuesdays. Statutes at Large, 28th Congress, 2nd Session. ", "Election Day should be a federal holiday", "Why You Should Give Your Employees Election Day Off", "Sandusky's gov't eliminates Columbus Day as holiday", "Virginia governor makes Election Day a holiday and expands early voting", "Illinois governor expands vote by mail, makes election day a state holiday", https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/113/s2918, "S. 3498 (115th): Democracy Day Act of 2018", National Conference of State Legislatures, "(Nearly) Final 2008 Early Voting Statistics", "Voting On Tuesday: How is This Still a Thing? In the United States, Election Day is the annual day set by law for the general elections of federal public officials. Annals of Congress, House of Representatives, 2nd Congress, 1st Session. (2015). Voter registration If you plan on voting at your polling location, voter registration applications need to be received at least 15 days before the upcoming election. Development of the Morse electric telegraph, funded by Congress in 1843 and successfully tested in 1844, was a technological change that clearly augured an imminent future of instant communication nationwide. Democracy Day, a planned federal holiday to coincide with Election Day, was unsuccessfully proposed in the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate in 2005.
Washington requires postal votes be postmarked by Election Day. Some other states require that workers be permitted to take time off with pay. The reason that Tuesday was chosen was so that voters could attend church on Sunday, travel to the polling location on Monday, and vote before Wednesday, which was usually when farmers would sell their produce at the market. [12], On April 12, 2020, Virginia governor Ralph Northam signed legislation that established Election Day as a holiday.
By 1792, federal law permitted each state to choose Presidential electors any time within a 34-day period[2] before the first Wednesday in December. Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Montana, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Virginia, West Virginia, and the territory of Puerto Rico have declared Election Day a civic holiday. But thanks to new laws in the state, early voting is happening now—and thanks to the dangers of gathering in this era of coronavirus, voting by mail may be your best option to both stay safe and have your say. Retrieved from, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Twentieth Amendment to the United States Constitution, "Why Are U.S. [16][17], Most states allow for early voting, allowing voters to cast ballots before the Election Day.
[6] The effect is to constrain Election Day to the week between November 2 and November 8 inclusive. The Philadelphia City Commissioners have opened in-person mail-in voting offices where registered voters can apply for a mail-in ballot in person, receive their ballot, complete their ballot, and return it, all in one visit.Any voters can utilize any of the satellite election offices throughout the… June 2 is the official rescheduled date for the Pennsylvania primary. [18] Unconditional permanent absentee voting is allowed in 7 states and in D.C.[18], In Colorado, Oregon, Washington, Utah, and Hawaii all major elections are by postal voting, with ballot papers sent to voters several weeks before Election Day. Beginning with Presidential elections, gradually all states brought nearly all elections into conformity with this date. The City Commissioners office opened seven satellite election offices on Tuesday where you can apply for, fill out and return a mail-in ballot all in one trip.
[5] To prevent information from one state from influencing Presidential electoral outcomes in another, Congress responded in 1845 by mandating a uniform national date for choosing Presidential electors.
Some employers allow their employees to come in late or leave early on Election Day to allow them an opportunity to get to their precinct and vote. [14], Democratic Representative John Conyers of Michigan proposed H.R.
Statutes at Large, 2nd Congress, 1st Session. For the 2008 presidential election, 32% of votes were early votes.[20]. Mail-in or absentee ballots You can also apply to vote by mail-in ballot. Gradually, states converged on selection by some form of popular vote. A federal holiday, Democracy Day, to coincide with Election Day has been proposed. Election Day is a public holiday in some states, including Delaware, Hawaii, Kentucky, Louisiana, Montana, New Jersey, New York, Virginia, West Virginia, the territory of Puerto Rico and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. The purpose of the holiday was to increase voter turnout by giving citizens more time to vote, as well as to allow for the opening of more polling places with more workers while raising awareness of the importance of voting and civic participation. Some other states require that workers be permitted to take time off from employment without loss of pay. [1] 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. PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- The City of Philadelphia opened seven early voting centers at satellite election offices on Tuesday ahead of the upcoming election. In January 2019, Sandusky, Ohio became the first city in the country to make Election Day a paid holiday for city employees by eliminating Columbus Day. It has never been enacted. Many state and local government offices are also elected on Election Day as a matter of convenience and cost saving, although a handful of states hold elections for state offices (such as governor) during odd-numbered off years, or during other even-numbered midterm years, and may hold special elections for offices that have become vacant. It is statutorily set as "the Tuesday next after the first Monday in the month of November" equalling "the first Tuesday after November 1". California Elections Code section 14000 provides that employees otherwise unable to vote must be allowed two hours off with pay, at the beginning or end of a shift. Other movements in the IT and automotive industries encourage employers to voluntarily give their employees paid time off on Election Day. [19] In Colorado and Oregon, all postal votes must be received by a set time on Election Day, as is common with absentee ballots in most states (except overseas military ballots, which receive more time by federal law). [10] Walk's campaign evolved into a website, TakeOffElectionDay.com, which now highlights the 140+ tech companies (including Spotify, Wikimedia Foundation, Autodesk, and Square, Inc.)[11] that are giving their employees time to vote on Election Day. Congressional Globe, House of Representatives, 28th Congress, 2nd Session, Civic Impulse. Photo via Getty Images.
Unconditional early voting in person is allowed in 32 states and in D.C.[18] Also, most states have some kind of absentee ballot system. Seven satellite election offices opened on Tuesday throughout Philadelphia, and will remain open through Election Day, November 3. General elections in which presidential candidates are not on the ballot are referred to as midterm elections. California Elections Code Section 14000 and New York State Election Law[9] provide that employees without sufficient time to vote must be allowed two hours off with pay, at the beginning or end of a shift. Voters can register to vote at the sites as well as request a mail-in ballot, fill it out, and cast their vote on the same day. The bill was reintroduced on Nov. 12, 2014 and again on Sep 25, 2018 by independent Senator Bernie Sanders. Early voting periods vary from 4 to 50 days prior to Election Day. Bold indicates major holidays commonly celebrated in the United States, which often represent the major celebrations of the month.
Terms for those elected begin in January the following year; the President and Vice President are inaugurated (sworn in) on Inauguration Day, which is usually on January 20. This has led activists to promote alternatives to improve voter turnout. 63 – Democracy Day Act of 2005[15] for the Tuesday after the first Monday in November of every even-numbered year, to be a legal public holiday called Democracy Day. Congress has mandated a uniform date for presidential (3 U.S.C. GENERAL ELECTION: 11/ 4/2020 First day to REGISTER after November election: 11/10/2020 … Elections Held on Tuesdays? The United Auto Workers union has negotiated making Election Day a holiday for workers of U.S. domestic auto manufacturers.
Unconditional absentee voting by mail is allowed in 27 states and D.C., and with an excuse in another 21 states. [3] A November election was convenient because the harvest would have been completed but the most severe winter weather, impeding transportation, would not yet have arrived, while the new election results also would roughly conform to a new year. For general information on U.S. elections, see. [citation needed] In July 2016, venture capitalist Hunter Walk began encouraging tech companies to give their employees time off to vote on Election Day. Mayor Jim Kenney on Tuesday urged Philadelphians to "reject these false accusations. (federal) = federal holidays, (abbreviation) = state/territorial holidays, (religious) = religious holidays, (cultural) = holiday related to a specific racial/ethnic group or sexual minority, (week) = week-long holidays, (month) = month-long holidays, (36) = Title 36 Observances and Ceremonies FUTURE ELECTIONS SCHEDULE IN PHILADELPHIA Download the 2015-2025 Philadelphia Elections Schedule. ", Annunciation of the Virgin Mary / Annunciation of the Theotokos, Days of Remembrance of the Victims of the Holocaust, Emancipation Day in the U.S. Virgin Islands, Fast in Honor of the Holy Mother of Lord Jesus, Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Nativity of Mary / Nativity of the Theotokos, Italian-American Heritage and Culture Month, Virgin Islands–Puerto Rico Friendship Day, Presentation of the Theotokos to the Temple, Urus Mubarak of Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Election_Day_(United_States)&oldid=980836601, Wikipedia indefinitely move-protected pages, Articles with unsourced statements from August 2016, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, The Tuesday after the first Monday of November, This page was last edited on 28 September 2020, at 19:14. § 1) and congressional (2 U.S.C.
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