Title 2, The CongressRelease 119-102
§7 Time of Election
Title 2 › CHAPTER 1 — ELECTION OF SENATORS AND REPRESENTATIVES › § 7
Summary
Hold elections for Representatives and Delegates on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November of every even-numbered year; their terms begin on the 3d day of January following.
Full Legal Text
Title 2, §7
The Congress, Source: USLM XML via OLRC
The Tuesday next after the 1st Monday in November, in every even numbered year, is established as the day for the election, in each of the States and Territories of the United States, of Representatives and Delegates to the Congress commencing on the 3d day of January next thereafter.
Legislative History
Notes & Related Subsidiaries
Editorial Notes
Codification R.S. § 25 derived from act Feb. 2, 1872, ch. 11, § 3, 17 Stat. 28. The second sentence of this section, which was based on section 6 of the act Mar. 3, 1875 and made this section inapplicable to any State that had not yet changed its day of election and whose constitution required an amendment to change the day of election of its State officers, was omitted.
Amendments
1934—Act June 5, 1934, substituted “3d day of January” for “fourth day of March”. Constitutional ProvisionsThe first section of Amendment XX to the Constitution provides: “The terms of Senators and Representatives [shall end] at noon on the 3d day of January, of the years in which such terms would have ended if this article had not been ratified; and the terms of their successors shall then begin.” Time for election of Representatives, see Const. Art. I, § 4, cl. 1.
Reference
Citations & Metadata
Citation
2 U.S.C. § 7
Title 2, The Congress
Last Updated
Aug 21, 2026
Release point: 119-102