As part of the debate over renewing the Voting Rights Act, a group called Why Tuesday is lobbying to move Election Day to a weekend to promote higher turnout. Seems like a no-brainer to me. Andrew Young lays out the rationale in an Atlanta Journal Constitution op-ed (registration required):

Saturday marks the 40th anniversary of the act, the most successful voting legislation in our nation’s history. Just months after its passage, 455,000 Americans effectively gained the right to vote.

But we cannot rest complacently. Forty years ago we fought so that every American had the right to vote, while now we fight so that our democracy affords all eligible Americans the best viable opportunity to vote. Just think about one question fundamental to whether our voting system welcomes participation or inhibits it: Why Tuesday?

Holding national elections on Tuesdays is not required by the U.S. Constitution. Instead, this Election Day was established in 1845 by federal law. In those rural, agrarian years, Tuesday was a convenient day for most eligible voters — rural workers and land-owning gentry — to journey to the county seat and vote. Congress ruled out other days mostly by default.

Times have changed. Holding federal elections on the first Tuesday in November, usually between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m., allows the majority of working Americans only one or two hours to vote. As a result, long lines and crowded polling places have become synonymous with voting.

According to recent census data, “too busy/schedule conflicts” was the reason most cited for not voting. That far outweighed other cited causes typically thought to be obstacles, including “didn’t like candidates/issues,” “registration problems” and “inconvenient polling place.”

Why are Americans asked to exercise the vote mostly in one weekday?