Why are elections in the United States held on a Tuesday? Most explanations talk about how weekday voting helps disenfranchise voters who are unable to get time off work (usually poorer or minorities). While this helps explain why the United States still votes on a Tuesday, it does not answer the question of why Tuesday in the first place?
This entry in the Encyclopedia Britannica comes to the rescue.
Congress set Election Day as the first Tuesday of November in 1845. November was conveniently placed between harvest and winter, while Tuesday gave America’s mostly agrarian population a day to travel to polls after church on Sunday. They could arrive, vote, and then stay for market day on Wednesday to buy or sell produce.
Plenty more detail in the link.
Something Interesting. Most Days. 