Election Day (United Kingdom)

The Thursday Tradition

When it's time to cast a ballot in the United Kingdom, you'll almost always find yourself heading to the polling station on a Thursday. Polls open bright and early at 7:00 in the morning and remain open until 22:00, giving everyone a chance to participate. But why this particular weekday?

The reasons behind the Thursday tradition are a fascinating blend of historical circumstance and social foresight. One prominent theory suggests it helped avoid issues like intoxicated voters, as Friday pay-packets might have led to more drunken participation over weekends.

Another historical angle points to Sunday sermons. By holding elections as far as possible from Sunday, it was thought that the influence of religious leaders on voters might be minimized. Plus, many towns historically held their market days on Thursdays, meaning people were already traveling into town, making it convenient to visit the polls.

General Elections: Power and Fixed Terms

For most of modern history, the timing of a general election has been a powerful tool in the hands of the Prime Minister. Before the Fixed-term Parliaments Act of 2011 and again since its repeal in 2022, a general election date was typically chosen by the Prime Minister of the day, who would advise the Monarch to dissolve Parliament.

This gave the Prime Minister strategic control, allowing them to call an election when their party's popularity was highest or the opposition was weakest. However, even with this power, Thursday has been the customary day for elections since the 1930s, cementing its status as the de facto Election Day.

Interestingly, the idea of fixed election days isn't new. As far back as 1647, the radical 'Levellers' political movement proposed in their 'Agreement of the People' that elections should be held on the first Thursday in every second March. A vision far ahead of its time!

Between 2011 and 2022, the Fixed-term Parliaments Act changed the landscape significantly. General Elections were automatically scheduled for the first Thursday in May every five years. This aimed to remove the Prime Minister's power to call snap elections.

Early elections during this period could only occur under specific conditions: either a vote of no confidence in the government, requiring a simple majority, or a two-thirds majority vote in the House of Commons favoring an earlier election. Only two such elections happened under these rules, in 2015 and 2017.

A Look Back: Shifting Days

While Thursday is now firmly established, Election Day wasn't always so consistent. Before 1918, general elections were not a single-day event but could span up to four weeks! Imagine the campaigning and the suspense over such an extended period.

Even after 1918, before the Thursday tradition fully took hold in the 1930s, election days varied quite a bit. We saw elections on Saturdays, Wednesdays, and even Tuesdays, highlighting a period of less rigid scheduling before Thursday became the norm.

Date	Day\n14 December 1918	Saturday\n15 November 1922	Wednesday\n6 December 1923	Thursday\n29 October 1924	Wednesday\n30 May 1929	Thursday\n27 October 1931	Tuesday

From 1935 onwards, a clear pattern emerges: every single UK general election has taken place on a Thursday, underscoring just how deeply ingrained this convention became. This consistent scheduling brings a sense of predictability to the democratic process.

Other Elections: Local and By-Elections

The Thursday tradition isn't limited to general elections. Local elections in England and Wales are, by statute, also held on the first Thursday in May. This ensures a consistent and predictable schedule for local governance.

However, even these statutory dates can shift in extraordinary circumstances. For instance, local elections were delayed in 2001 due to an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease, and again in 2020 because of the global COVID-19 pandemic. In all these cases, the rescheduled elections still ultimately took place on a Thursday.

Sometimes, local elections were even strategically aligned with European Parliament elections, such as in 2004, 2009, and 2014, to maximize voter turnout. However, the decision in 2019 was to keep them separate, though both still occurred on a Thursday.

By-elections, which fill vacant seats in Parliament or local councils, also generally follow the Thursday tradition. While they can be held on other days, particularly if a Thursday clashes with a bank holiday, it's a rare occurrence for parliamentary by-elections.

A notable exception was the Hamilton by-election in 1978, held on a Wednesday. The returning officer made this decision specifically to avoid clashing with the opening game of the 1978 FIFA World Cup — a testament to the power of football in British culture! Today, council by-elections still occasionally diverge from the Thursday norm.

For a period between 1997 and 2015, general elections were often held on the same day as the annual local government elections, creating a super-Election Day. This alignment, however, ended in 2017 when the local elections took place in early May, and the general election followed in early June.