Americans always vote in federal elections on Tuesday and
it goes back to the time of horse and buggy.
Between 1788 and 1845, states decided their own voting dates and
it resulted in different times to pick the electors. For
instance, property owners would cast their votes for president
on the first Wednesday of December. During 1792, a law was
passed mandating that state elections be held within a 34-day
period before that day, so most elections took place in November
after the harvest was finished, but before winter began.
With the advent of the
railroad and telegraph, Congress decided it was time to
standardize a date. Monday was out, because it would require
people to travel to the polls by buggy on the Sunday Sabbath.
Wednesday was also not an option, because it was market day and
farmers would not be able to make it to the polls. So it was
decided that Tuesday would be the day that Americans would vote
in elections, and in 1845, Congress passed a law that
presidential elections would be held on the Tuesday after the
first Monday in November.