A proposal to move voting on local issues from Tuesday to Saturday is being made by the Charter Revision Commission in Biddeford and will be decided by voters this November.

While it’s a noble attempt to increase voter turnout, we feel this proposal would not make a significant impact and would actually end up costing the city more.

State and federal elections are held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November, with the primaries today, on this second Tuesday in June. It makes sense to combine local voting with those, for two reasons: State and federal elections often have more of a draw than local ones; and it saves money to set up the polls only once.

It actually seems backwards to move to Saturday voting, when many of the smaller towns in York County that still use the participatory Town Meeting method of voting on their budget have actually moved parts of their warrant to the Tuesday date in an effort to increase voter participation.

While few people are willing to sit through an hour or two to cast their vote on every warrant article of the town budget on a Saturday, many more are willing to drop by town hall and fill out a ballot at their convenience on a Tuesday, or before if they take advantage of absentee voting. This year, for example, Lyman and Dayton voters are deciding Tuesday on what is easily the most important item on their warrants: Expansion of staffing at the Goodwin’s Mills Fire Department to allow for 24/7 coverage. They’ll also be voting on new selectmen and other town positions at that time.

Saturday Town Meetings routinely draw only a minuscule fraction of a town’s population, with a few dozen people deciding the fate of the town for thousands. It’s not only the fact that Town Meetings are boring, the seats are hard, and each warrant article goes into more detail than most people care to weigh in on, Saturdays are just plain busy.

There are sports competitions, performances, family outings, parties, housework and yardwork. People aren’t in the groove of doing business on a Saturday, other than shopping, and family obligations take precedence.

According to the U.S. Government Accounting Office’s report, “Views on Implementing Federal Elections on a Weekend,” there has not been an official study of weekend elections, but “studies of other voting alternatives determined that voter turnout is not strongly affected by them.”

The fact is that moving elections to the weekend is not the answer. We already have in-person early voting, no-excuse absentee voting and voting by mail in most municipalities, so it’s doesn’t even matter what day voting takes place. It’s impossible to believe that it’s too difficult for someone to cast a ballot, given these allowances that make it easy to vote at a different time, and even from the comfort of your own home.

Biddeford City Clerk Carmen Morris’ suggestion ”“ to change state law to allow municipalities to send absentee ballots to all registered voters in the city three weeks prior to an election ”“ would make it even easier, albeit at an expense, but even then, many people won’t bother to return them.

The real problem is voter apathy. That’s why people don’t show up to the polls ”“ because they have no idea what the issues are or who the candidates are. Until more people step up to become conscious citizens, with all the privileges and responsibilities that entails, no effort to make voting easier is going to improve turnout. In the meantime, we shouldn’t have to pay extra in our attempts to accommodate them.

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Today’s editorial was written by Managing Editor Kristen Schulze Muszynski, representing the majority opinion of the Journal Tribune Editorial Board. Questions? Comments? Contact Kristen by calling 282-1535, Ext. 322, or via email at kristenm@journaltribune.com.