Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Humanities/2019 June 1

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June 1

Are US state legislatures and US governors legally required to be elected on the same date as the US Congress and the US President?

Are US state legislatures and US governors legally required to be elected on the same date as the US Congress and the US President? I don't necessarily mean the same year or the exact literal date, but rather something like all elections (both state and federal) being legally required to be held on, say, the first Tuesday in November (if not necessarily on the same year). Futurist110 (talk) 23:57, 1 June 2019 (UTC)

No, but most state elections are held at the same time as federal elections for convenience and to reduce expenses. See Elections in the United States#State elections. --Khajidha (talk) 00:24, 2 June 2019 (UTC)

If you review List of United States governors, you can check some of them and see which ones follow the "standard" format of when elections are held. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 00:36, 2 June 2019 (UTC)

There's also a chart a little further down in the article I linked to earlier. --Khajidha (talk) 00:41, 2 June 2019 (UTC)

You mean this chart?: Elections_in_the_United_States#Comparison_of_recent_and_upcoming_election_years Futurist110 (talk) 02:36, 2 June 2019 (UTC)

Yep. --Khajidha (talk) 04:52, 2 June 2019 (UTC)

See Election Day (United States). Federal law does not set the date of state elections. It is very likely that any federal statute attempting to do so would be struck down as unconstitutional, not being a power granted to Congress; only an amendment to the U.S. Constitution would be able to impose such a requirement upon states. (However, the federal government can incentivize states to do something with the "carrot" of federal money, as with the National Minimum Drinking Age Act.) The date of state elections is up to state law. If a state's law says that state elections are to be held at the same time as those for national office, then it would be true to say such elections are "legally required to be on the same date", but the law is that of the state and within the power of the state to change. Virginia famously holds all its regular state elections in "off-years", that is, the years following those of national elections, and political media often look to these elections as a bellwether for the upcoming national elections. --47.146.63.87 (talk) 05:03, 2 June 2019 (UTC)

Link: Off-year election, missed that while skimming. --47.146.63.87 (talk) 06:54, 2 June 2019 (UTC)

Psst, someone mind redirecting Election Day in the United States to Election Day (United States)? --47.146.63.87 (talk) 05:03, 2 June 2019 (UTC)

To provide some figures, there is an almost 50% uplift in the cost of the 2019 European elections in the United Kingdom compared to 2014 [1]. This is basically because the last election was held on the same day as the local elections, which tend to happen on the first Thursday in May. One by-election was nearly scuppered by a mistake in issuing the writ. By law a minimum period must elapse until polling day, but bank holidays are excluded. There happened to be an upcoming bank holiday but someone noticed the mistake in time. 2A00:23C1:CD81:F01:65C4:8E95:C1A3:D61A (talk) 11:25, 2 June 2019 (UTC)

Thank you very much for all of this information, you guys! Futurist110 (talk) 19:12, 3 June 2019 (UTC)