The Constitution of the United States delegated national elections to the states.
US Congress allowed individual states to select their own election dates.
Eventually it became clear this procedure was problematic.
Knowledge of election results in early voting states affected voter turnout.
In a close election, later voting states and last-minute voters had the power to sway the outcome of an entire election.
The large window to conduct elections across the states enabled voter fraud.
Voter registration was not required.
It has been reported that:
"Floaters" crossed state boundaries to vote in multiple states. This practice was named "pipelaying' as the floaters claimed they were in town to lay pipes.
"Repeaters" were voters who changed clothes or altered their appearance to vote in multiple precincts.
Does this sound familiar? Is history repeating itself?
In 1845, following several highly contested presidential elections, US Congress enacted a single paragraph as the Presidential Election Day Act requiring presidential elections shall be held 'on the Tuesday next after the first Monday in the Month of November'.
Even though this federal law has never been removed, Election 'Month' or Election 'Season' now replaces Election 'Day'.