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Speaker 1

00:00

And now, Last Week Tonight asks, How is this still a thing? This week, Voting on Tuesday. How is this still a thing? In the United States, 2 things are for certain.

Speaker 1

00:12

First, elections for national office are held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November. And second, every time it happens, we're going to ask, why is that?

Speaker 2

00:22

When this question first came up here, none of us knew why it is we vote on Tuesdays.

Speaker 3

00:26

Have you ever wondered why we vote on Tuesdays?

Speaker 1

00:30

Everyone knows election day is always Tuesday, but we wondered why. And it's not just newscasters. Nobody seems to know.

Speaker 4

00:39

I do not know why elections are held on Tuesday. On a Tuesday? I'm not sure, actually.

Speaker 4

00:43

Oh, that's a good question. Do you know? I feel like I should, but no.

Speaker 1

00:47

No. Yes, even human pickles don't know why we vote on Tuesday. It's just 1 of those mysteries that no 1 can figure out, like, where's the remote? Or, why doesn't Jason Bourne just Google himself?

Speaker 1

00:59

But the reason actually comes from an 1845 law, passed for a very 1845 reason.

Speaker 3

01:05

People had very limited access to move about polling stations or where they'd vote would be extreme distances. They had to find a way of making election day a day that people could accommodate their schedules.

Speaker 2

01:16

Weekends were no good because of the Sabbath, so take Monday as a travel day and, voila, vote on Tuesdays.

Speaker 1

01:23

Yes, we vote on Tuesdays because of the Sabbath, making voting day the only thing in American life still scheduled around Sundays other than the operating hours of Chick-fil-A and new episodes of America's Funniest Home Videos. Oh, that's right, mother-fuckers. That thing's still on, and it'll be on long after this nonsense is canceled.

Speaker 1

01:44

And while many states allow early voting or mail-in voting, 13 states don't. And the problem is, having everyone voted once on a Tuesday can cause scenes like this.

Speaker 5

01:54

Here in the Valley, high voter turnout for Election Day.

Speaker 3

01:57

This is video from the Oakwood University precinct where Voters waited for upwards of 3 hours at times today to cast their ballots. The lines have been long

Speaker 1

02:06

at polls all across central Mississippi tonight.

Speaker 5

02:08

People waited for hours to cast their ballots in the cold and the rain. Here in East Flatbush, the line to vote stretched through the hall and up the stairs. But wait, there's more.

Speaker 5

02:19

This whole auditorium of people is the line to get on the line.

Speaker 1

02:23

Holy shit. All the wait times of Disney World. All the fun of a f**king DMV.

Speaker 1

02:29

And for some, the fact voting takes place on a workday is a major inconvenience.

Speaker 4

02:34

On Tuesday I have to work and I'm an hourly employee, so any time taken away from work is just, I have to wake up earlier.

Speaker 1

02:42

Exactly. Perhaps that's why The most common reason Americans give for not voting is that they were too busy, which either means too busy working, although it could mean too busy coming up with sick pool ducks like this 1. ♪ ♪ Because this is America, and there is all sorts of really cool shit to do. So, what could be done?

Speaker 1

03:07

Well, we could expand early voting, move election day to a weekend, or keep it where it is and declare it a national holiday like it is in Puerto Rico, where their turnout is not only consistently higher than the 50 states, but their voting day is consistently more awesome. But until we do that, we're going to be forced to squeeze in voting in between work, doctor's appointments, or a few quick rim-rattling nerf dungs, Just so farmers who have been dead for more than a century won't have an excuse to miss church. All of which returns us to the question, voting on Tuesday, how is this still a thing?

Speaker 3

03:45

You