One of the myriad of interesting stories coming out of the UK election has been a failure of the British Electoral Commission to adequately provide polling day services in some constituencies:

There were angry scenes around the country tonight after hundreds of voters were unable to vote when polling stations closed at 10pm despite queueing for hours, casting a shadow over the results of the election.

Up to 200 would-be voters in Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg’s constituency of Sheffield Hallam were left disenfranchised and a number made their way to Clegg’s house to protest.

The Electoral Commission has put out a statement in response, admitting a certain amount of culpability for not ensuring that there were enough polling stations in staff in the busiest areas.

But why hold general elections on Thursdays, for goodness sake? Apparently in the UK this is a rather silly tradition that has been upheld since 1931.

Why not hold elections on Saturdays (as in Australia), when the majority of folks aren’t working, and are generally a bit freer to pop into vote at their leisure? I wonder how many people saw the queues lining the street at their local polling booth and decided not to bother, particularly seeing that voting in the UK is not compulsory and there is no penalty for not making any effort to vote?