Article I Section 4 Clauses 1 and 2

[1] The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations, except as to the places of choosing Senators.

[2] The Congress shall assemble at least once in every Year, and such Meeting shall [be on the first Monday in December,]* unless they shall by Law appoint a different Day.

* Changed by the Twentieth Amendment

Now this is seat of your pants action packed law right here. I will give you a second to wipe the sweat from your brow over the sweeping advances in world of legal craft work presented here. (go ahead wipe away) But seriously not all parts of the Constitution are very exciting, this being one of them…

The state legislatures have the task of figuring out how congressional elections are held. The determine the schedule, how voters register, where they can vote. But congress has the right to change these state rules to set a uniform date for federal elections and to provide national protection for the right to vote. Wait a minute! This is not so dull after all!

When taken in the context of the civil rights movement this section along with several amendments are very important for understanding who can vote and when they can vote and how they vote. The first federal election law prohibited false registrations, bribery of election officials, and reporting false election returns. Congress passed this law after the Civil War with the goal of enforcing the prohibitions against racial discrimination in voting contained in the 15th amendment.

Later the Civil Rights Act of 1957 and 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, Congress added even greater protection for the right to vote.

Generally Congress sets its own schedule for how often it meets. The Constitution says it has to meet once a year. Originally it was on the first Monday in December, one year and one month AFTER the election (leading to all sorts of problems), the 20th amendment fixed that small oversight and moved the date to January 3rd unless the members pick another date.