You've been waiting for years for the answer to one of the most important questions ever: Why does brillig do TC on Tuesdays? Why do we vote on Tuesday?
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I had NPR on during my shower this morning and heard a piece on why we vote on he Tuesday following the first Monday in November. While I probably knew this four years ago when I'm SURE this last was a news item, I didn't know now... and I'm betting at least some a few one other person doesn't know either, so here's my Election Day PSA for the day:
Article II Section 1 of the US Constitution states "The Congress may determine the Time of chusing the Electors, and the Day on which they shall give their Votes; which Day shall be the same throughout the United States."
It was not until 1845 that Congress got around to fixing a standard voting day. According to About.com and WhyTuesday.org, November was decided upon as Best Month To Vote because spring and summer were tied up with our agrarian lifestyle's demands, but winter months made it hard for people to travel. November was a nice, happy compromise month.
But why Tuesday? Most people lived far enough from the polling place (generally the County offices) that a day's travel by horse and bayonetbuggy was required. Monday was unacceptable because travel on the Sabbath Sunday would be required; Wednesday was right out because it was Market Day.
That little oddity about the Tuesday after the first Monday? That was twofold: first, Congress wanted absolutely no chance it could fall on November 1st, aka All Souls Day, which was a Holy Day of Obligation for Roman Catholics.
Obviously, we're no longer an agriculturally-centered population, and even on heavy-traffic days it does not take me 24+ hours to reach my polling spot. I can walk to it in about 15 minutes. Tuesday seems like an odd day to encourage voter participation, as this cute TED talk explains:
What do you think about our tradition of voting on an oft-grey and chilly November Tuesday? Is there another day.. or days... of the week that make more sense to you? Please discuss in comments!
Brillig's ObDisclaimer: The decision to publish each nomination lies with the evening's Diarist and/or Comment Formatter. My evenings at the helm, I try reeeeallllyy hard to publish everything
without regard to content. I really do, even when I disagree personally with any given nomination. "TopCommentness" lies in the eyes of the nominator and of you, the reader - I leave the decision to you. I do
not publish self-nominations (ie your own comments) and if I ruled the world, we'd all build community, supporting and uplifting instead of tearing our fellow Kossacks down.
From cohenzee:
Well played snark from happymisanthrophy in response to this comment from PJEvans regarding Mittens crow's feet.
From hungrycoyote:
This comment by flycaster explaining how his kids reacted to the debate is priceless. Out of the mouths of babes.
From Yours Truly, brillig:
I really, REALLY want to nominate Hunter's Chronicles of Mitt. Alas, this is Top Comments, not Top Diaries, but then I saw this gem by agrenadier :-).
Raven Brooks has a great diary on change.org's recent changes. bmaples summarizes.
Top Mojo is still down :-(. See
here for details and updates. That link will show that
elfling HAS fixed the broken comment search. Unfortunately, the repaired search is not recognized by our Top Mojo generator, which
mik wrote for us when DK4 arrived. When he figures out how to fix it, then we'll have Mojo again. Thanks to
elfling and everyone behind the scenes working on the problem and to
mik for working to fix our Top Mojo and keeping the Top Comments crew updated.
Top Pictures for yesterday, October 22nd. Click any image to be taken to the full comment. Thank you
jotter for the image magic!
Pee Ess - worthwhile effort that Top Comments wholeheartedly supports follows...
GOTV Blogathon - October 23-26, 2012
Diary Schedule - All Times Pacific
Lawmakers, political activists, and union leaders have taken time from their round-the-clock, get-out-the-vote schedules to join us this week. Click this link for additional details, guest bios, and a complete lineup including among many others, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Van Jones, Secretary Robert Reich, and Governor Howard Dean.
Do you have any links for closely contested Congressional races in battleground states? If so, post them in the comments section of diaries written by our guests. More details here - Links for the DK GOTV Blogathon! Got Any Online Phonebanking Links for Close Races?
The blogathon is being organized by Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse, Onomastic, rb137, JekyllnHyde, boatsie, and adviser Meteor Blades.
1:00 pm: GOTV Blogathon: Your vote really DOES Matter (Just Ask the City of East Palo Alto, California) by shanikka.
3:00 pm: The Seduction of Cynicism by Robert Reich.
7:30 am: Senator Sherrod Brown.
11:00 am: SEIU President Mary Kay Henry.
1:00 pm: House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi.
3:00 pm: AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka.
5:00 pm: Van Jones.
Please remember to republish these diaries to your Daily Kos Groups. You can also follow all postings by clicking this link for the DK Poli Group. Then, click 'Follow' and that will make all postings show up in 'My Stream' of your Daily Kos page.
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