Should we hold elections on Saturdays rather than Tuesdays?

[Indy Texas]

An embarrassingly low percentage of eligible voters in this country actually vote in elections. But whether or not this is due to obstacles in finding time to vote, we're all busy. Whether you're a Democrat, a Republican, or an Independent, we've all got s#!% to do during the week and, as Sweet Brown once said, "Ain't nobody got time for that to vote!" (paraphrasing).

Tuesday elections are an absurdly archaic holdover from our days as an agrarian society of small farmers. Mondays in the fall months were often devoted to taking one's harvest to town to be sold, and since the trip by horse to the nearest reasonably-sized town was often at least a day, it was convenient for people to sell at market on Monday, vote on Tuesday and then head home.

People have to take time off work to vote on Tuesdays (or any of the other weekdays early voting is held - and it's nearly always on weekdays). If they are able to take off work, productivity suffers; if they can't take off work, they can't vote.

Saturday is a day that the overwhelming majority of Americans are free on. Yes, there are some retail and restaurant workers who work Saturdays. Yes, the less than half of self-described Jews who actually observe Saturday services will be occupied. But for those people, we would still have early voting on other days of the week.

So my suggestion is that America's federal elections be held on the first Saturday in November rather than the first Tuesday in November.

[Indy Texas]

Is it common in the US to take time off work to vote?

I know, we are legally allowed 4 hours to take off, but no one does it. Voting usually takes less than half an hour for me.

Employers are not required to allow people time off to go vote. It basically comes down to whether you are in the kind of job where you have enough autonomy to leave in the middle of the day. People in America don't always work near where they live. Example: at the time of the 2012 election, I lived about 25 minutes away from my job. So going out on my lunch break and voting wasn't an option for me. (You have to vote in the precinct where you live.) So I had to do it after work. I also voted during early voting and generally do. But I also don't have kids who need to be taken places after school; I have a fairly autonomous job and don't have to ask permission to leave if I have to go do something; I have a car so I don't have to, say, take three buses in order to get to a polling place like some people do.

I've never voted outside of Texas but I've never had to wait in line at my precinct. I don't know if that's because our polling places are extremely well-run and efficient, or if it's because so few of us bother voting. But Florida is notorious for its badly run polling places and wait times lasting hours. The fact that they're a swing state is probably the only reason they're willing to wait in line that long to vote; I sure as hell wouldn't.

[Indy Texas]

No, because then I can't vote until after sunset (nor would many orthodox Jews).  Tuesdays may not be the best days, but I can't think of any day that would necessarily be better.  If I knew ahead of time that I couldn't vote on Election Day, then I'd just request an absentee ballot.

Well most polling places are open until 7 or 8pm, which is after sunset. And again, you're talking about a problem that only affects maybe 1% of the population or less.

[Indy Texas]

As has been floated in this thread already, I would just prefer compulsory voting. Failing that, we should obviously make participating in elections as easy as possible, which is oddly opposed by significant portions of people. Make of that what you will, I suppose.

How would compulsory voting work? Would people literally just have to pick one of the candidates?

If there was a Nevada-style "None of these" option, what would you do if "None of these" came in first place?