While general elections in the United States may seem highly regulated and bureaucratized, it wasn't always that way.<br /><br />Bustle reports that during the first election in 1789, only white men who owned property could vote. That rule excluded a whopping 94 percent of the population.<br /><br />The Constitution didn't define a specific Election Day, either. In fact, in the early 1800s, people could vote anywhere from April to December.<br /><br />Elections are only held on Tuesdays because people had to travel by buggy to vote. Sunday church couldn't be disrupted, and Wednesday was market day.<br /><br />Until 1804, presidential nominees didn't name a running mate. Instead, the candidate who got the second most number of votes became the vice president.<br /><br />Dozens of states used to have laws restricting buying alcohol on Election Day, to prevent people from buying or selling votes.<br /><br />South Carolina was the last state to do away with their laws, in 2014.
