Modern elections are very different from contests in the early 1800s, when voters had to come to the county seat to vote, then wait for two days while the results were tallied and come back to heard the results. Although Sussex County established separate voting districts as early as 1811, the tradition of returning to the county seat to hear the town crier deliver the results from the courthouse steps persists to this day. Edward McIlvaine, a longtime Sussex resident and a leader in the poultry industry, described the unusual event

In 1888, historian J. Thomas Scharf wrote that Return Day was "one of the customs peculiar to the people of Sussex, from time immemorial, holding a high carnival on the day when the results of the election are announced…. Booths, stalls and stands are erected near the courthouse, where all kinds of edibles, such as opossum and rabbit meat, fish and oysters, can be procured. The women, who constitute a considerable portion of the crowd, are generously treated to cakes, candies and the best the booths afford."

Even today, beef is roasted on an open fire pit over night, and free ox roast sandwiches are distributed to the crowd that comes to see the elected and the defeated ride together in carriages and convertibles. At the end of the event, Sussex county party leaders "bury the hatchet," officially ending the political season.