Disenfranchised?

With polling stations open for 15 hours from 7.00 in the morning until 10.00 at night, it's hard to understand why there should have been people who were turned away without being able to cast their vote. Did a lot of people unwisely leave it to the last minute? Did some councils seek to save money by cutting the number of staff in the polling stations, or printing fewer ballot papers? Was everybody caught out by an increase (though not that massive an increase) in voter turnout? Or is the root of the problem that we insist on holding elections on a working day? There's nothing other than tradition that says it has to be a Thursday, but the Representation of the People Act 1983 does say that it must be an ordinary weekday. Perhaps it is time to look at this again. Most other European countries hold their elections on a Sunday - or the other possibility would be to declare election day a public holiday. But I think there are lessons which need to be learned.