# Could a state change election day? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 2, 2004, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-state-change-election-day/272491 "2004-11-02T03:38:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2004, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-state-change-election-day/272491/1 "2004-11-02T03:38:57Z")
Some states let people vote before election day now. Is there anything to stop them from changing the day entirely? ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2004, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-state-change-election-day/272491/2 "2004-11-02T04:34:43Z")
Until [1958](http://www.southcoasttoday.com/daily/09-98/09-06-98/c08sr122.htm) Maine had its presidential and other federal elections in September, giving rise to the slogan “As Maine Goes So Goes the Nation.” At least until 1936, when only Vermont followed Maine’s lead in voting against Roosevelt. The change was made by amending the state constitution, so presumably it would be possible to undo it. Unless Congress has passed some overriding legislation since, which I’m not aware of. Technically, the popular vote just determines the names of the electors, and the date on which the electors vote is fixed. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2004, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-state-change-election-day/272491/3 "2004-11-02T06:24:54Z")
There is no national law specifying the date on which the popular vote for the presidential election must be held. As with almost everything else having to do with the popular vote, that is up to the states to decide. ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2004, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-state-change-election-day/272491/4 "2004-11-02T16:58:57Z")
I’m sorry, but you’re both wrong. Federal law has required every state to appoint its electors on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November since 1848. Maine held state elections only in September. Recent court cases have held that early voting doesn’t violate this law, as long as polls are still open and the votes aren’t counted until Election Day. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2004, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-state-change-election-day/272491/5 "2004-11-02T17:39:12Z")
When I lived in Kentucky, the state had a schedule of state offices in odd years, federal offices in even years, local elections in the spring. But the elections for president, Senate and Congress were always the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November. ---
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2004, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-state-change-election-day/272491/6 "2004-11-02T19:19:12Z")
Since the question has been addressed, and because I just happened to [stumble across this info today](http://www.eac.gov/faq.asp?format=none): > [@](#): > > The Tuesday after the first Monday in November was initially established in 1845 (3 U.S.C. 1) for the appointment of Presidential electors in every fourth year. 2 U.S.C. 7 established this date for electing U.S. Representatives in every even numbered year in 1875. Finaly, 2 U.S.C. 1 established this date as the time for electing U.S. Senators in 1914. But what I never knew (and often wondered) was why: > [@](#): > > Why early November? For much of our history America was a predominantly agrarian society. Law makers therefore took into account that November was perhaps the most convenient month for farmers and rural workers to be able to travel to the polls. The fall harvest was over, (remembering that spring was planting time and summer was taken up with working the fields and tending the crops) but in the majority of the nation the weather was still mild enough to permit travel over unimproved roads. > > ``` > Why Tuesday? Since most residents of rural America had to travel a significant distance to the county seat in order to vote, Monday was not considered reasonable as many people would need to begin travel on Sunday. This would, of course, have conflicted with church services and Sunday worship. > > Why the first Tuesday after the first Monday? Lawmakers wanted to prevent election day from falling on the first of November for two reasons. November 1st is All Saints Day, a holy day of obligation for Roman Catholics. In addition, most merchants were in the habit of doing their books from the preceding month on the 1st. Congress was apparently worried that the economic success or failure of the previous month might influence the vote of the merchants. > > ``` ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2004, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-state-change-election-day/272491/7 "2004-11-02T19:21:44Z")
**Freddy the Pig** , Although having early elections in presidential years in Maine is widely reported, even in Wikipedia, I can’t find any basis for it outside of the old slogan, which people may be misinterpreting. Margaret Chase Smith was elected to the Senate on Sept. 13, 1948 in a general election following a primary. I don’t see any evidence that this was a special election to fill in a vacant seat. Not a presidential race, but still a federal election. But other than that, the first Tuesday after first Monday law (passed in 1845, and first applied to the 1848 election to come up with one face-saving nitpick) does seem controlling. I even referenced it in another thread, but I thought that Maine had continued to be an exception. Guess not. ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2004, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-state-change-election-day/272491/8 "2004-11-02T20:51:02Z")
Indeed, I was wrong to say “state elections only”–it turns out that Maine did in fact hold state _and Congressional_ elections early until 1958, but not presidential elections. (Voters had to troop back to the polls in November to vote for president, and nothing else.) The original law requiring House elections in November contained an exemption for “any State that had not yet changed its day of election and whose constitution required an amendment to change the day of election”. Maine and Vermont were among such states; Vermont made the necessary constitutional change by 1890, but Maine stubbornly held out until 1957. At that point the exemption became moot, so it has been removed from the US Code, but you can find a ghost reference to it [here](http://uscode.house.gov/download/pls/02C1.txt). When Senators became elected by direct vote, the 1914 law referenced above by **TellMeI’mNotCrazy** merely required that Senate elections be on the same day as the House vote, effectively extending the exemption to Maine Senate elections as well. ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2004, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-state-change-election-day/272491/9 "2004-11-02T20:53:52Z")
There are also provisions in some states to have runoff or tiebreaker elections AFTER Election Day. If none of the Senate candidates in Louisiana get 50% of the vote, there will be a runoff election. Some states would have a runoff in the unlikely event that Bush and Kerry finish in a dead heat in their state.