|
:''Not to be confused with Super Tuesday, for primary elections }} ''(Details)'' |date=}} ''(Details)'' |date=}} ''(Details)'' |date=}} ''()'' |celebrations = Exercising civic duty, voting for elected officials, visiting polling precincts |duration = 1 day |frequency = annual |observances = |relatedto = Super Tuesday }} Election Day in the United States is the day set by law for the general elections of public officials. It occurs on the Tuesday right after the first Monday in November〔Statutes at Large, 28th Congress, 2nd Session, (p. 721 ).〕(this does not necessarily mean the "first Tuesday" in a month because the first day of a month can be a Tuesday). The earliest possible date is November 2, and the latest possible date is November 8. The 2012 election was held on November 6, 2012. For federal offices (President, Vice President, and United States Congress), Election Day occurs only in even-numbered years. Presidential elections are held every four years, in years divisible by four, in which electors for President and Vice President are chosen according to the method determined by each state. Elections to the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate are held every two years; all Representatives serve two-year terms and are up for election every two years, while Senators serve six-year terms, staggered so that one-third of Senators are elected in any given general election. General elections in which presidential candidates are not on the ballot are referred to as midterm elections. 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. 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". Congress has mandated a uniform date for presidential () and congressional ( and ) elections, though early voting is nonetheless authorized in many states. Election Day is a civic holiday in some states, including Delaware, Hawaii, Kentucky, Montana, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, West Virginia, and the territory of Puerto Rico. Some other states require that workers be permitted to take time off from employment without loss of pay. 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. A coincidental federal holiday, Democracy Day, has been unsuccessfully proposed. ==History== No federal law regulated the 1788 federal election. In 1792, federal law permitted each state to conduct presidential elections in the state (i.e., to choose their electors) at any time in a 34-day period〔The bill originally specified a 30-day period for the states to choose their electors. Annals of Congress, House of Representatives, 2nd Congress, 1st Session, (p. 278 ).〕 before the first Wednesday of December, which was the day set for the meeting of the electors of the U.S. president and vice-president (the Electoral College), in their respective states.〔Statutes at Large, 2nd Congress, 1st Session, (p. 239 ).〕 This gave each state some flexibility in the holding of their elections. An election date in November was seen as convenient because the harvest would have been completed (important in an agrarian society) and the winter-like storms would not yet have begun in earnest (especially an advantage in the days before paved roads and snowplows). However, in this arrangement the states that voted later could be influenced by a candidate's victories in the states that voted earlier, a problem later exacerbated by improved communications via train and telegraph. In close elections, the states that voted last might well determine the outcome.〔William C. Kimberling, (The Electoral College ), Federal Election Commission, 1992, pp. 6-7〕 A uniform date for choosing presidential electors was instituted by the Congress in 1845.〔 Many theories have been advanced as to why the Congress settled on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November.〔The theories include that it was placed to avoid the Catholic All Saints Day, (November 1), a holy day of obligation. See (InfoPlease.com ) and (U.S. Election Assistance Commission )〕 The actual reasons, as shown in records of Congressional debate on the bill in December 1844, were fairly prosaic. The bill initially set the day for choosing presidential electors on "the first Tuesday in November," in years divisible by four (1848, 1852, etc.). But it was pointed out that in some years the period between the first Tuesday in November and the first Wednesday in December (when the electors are required to meet in their state capitals to vote) would be more than 34 days, in violation of the existing Electoral College law. So, the bill was reworded to move the date for choosing presidential electors to the Tuesday after the first Monday in November, a date scheme already used in New York.〔Congressional Globe, House of Representatives, 28th Congress, 2nd Session, (pp. 14-15 ).〕 The period between Election Day and the first Wednesday in December is always 29 days. The effect of the change was to make November 2 the earliest day on which Election Day may fall. In 1845, the United States was largely an agrarian society. Farmers often needed a full day to travel by horse-drawn vehicles to the county seat to vote. Tuesday was established as election day because it did not interfere with the Biblical Sabbath or with market day, which was on Wednesday in many towns. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Election Day (United States)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|