Remember that the US citizens have way fewer days off than most Europeans.
If, additionally, voting day isn't in the weekend or a public holiday then I'd assume that would decrease turnout measurably.
If, additionally, voting day isn't in the weekend or a public holiday then I'd assume that would decrease turnout measurably.
The day of the week isn't the issue. I would find it hard to believe that an American would choose not to vote, because it would take 30 minutes out of his or her evening.
In the suburbs you'll probably be out in a few minutes though.
So you either give the day off, or you come up with a solution to fix the underlying mismanagement of resources.
When I was a student, I was registered to vote in central London. The polling place was still only responsible for roughly the same number of people as some place in the countryside. There were simply more of them in the centre of a city.
What helps is that it's really easy to vote. The only thing you need to do in advance is not lose the voting card that arrives in the mail, and hopefully pay attention to the positions various parties have on the issues. You have to do a bit more if you want to authorize someone else to cast your vote, or if you want to vote at a different voting station, but otherwise you just walk to the voting station before or after work and that's it.
That's it. No registration in advance, no waiting in long lines, no having to travel to the other side of town. For most people, the voting station in right next door.
https://www.workplacefairness.org/voting-rights-workplace
"In some states, the law designates a specific amount of time that workers must be allowed off to vote. ... Some states require your employer to give you time off only if you will not have enough time to vote before or after work, while the polls are open. Most but not all states prevent your employer from firing or disciplining you because you take time off to vote."
In the state I live in, there is no law requiring your employer to give you time off to vote.
In Belgium we have to vote at a designated location (almost always a school building) but it's on a Sunday.
It would be less practical here to let you vote near work rather than home, for there are many minor political offices that cover a small district. In the first few hundred meters on the way to work, I cross from Ward 4 into Ward 1. I couldn't tell you how many Advisory Neighborhood Commission districts I would pass through.
. Early voting and vote by mail have been greatly expanded in the US over the last couple of decades. I believe that Oregon uses voting by mail exclusively now.