Just two Tuesdays from today, Americans will head to the polls and vote for their President. But why is Tuesday the anointed day? In this hilarious TED-Ed talk, Jacob Soboroff shares that Tuesday was made the official voting day in 1845 because, back then, voters traveled to the county seat by horse and buggy. They needed a day to get there and a day to get back and, since traveling on Sunday was a no-no, Tuesday became the day of choice.
In the modern era, however, Soboroff worries that voting on Tuesdays may have a negative effect on voter turnout. His nonprofit — called Why Tuesday? — is circulating a petition asking Congress to move voting day to a weekend, to allow more people to head to the polls without fear of missing work.