Change the day elections are held to Saturday
We call on the UK Government to hold all major elections on Saturday instead of Thursday, to improve accessibility, participation, and democratic engagement. The UK is one of the few major democracies that still holds elections on a weekday. Thursday voting can create barriers for working people.
Signatures
8
signatures
Government response threshold (10,000) · 8/10,000
Debate threshold (100,000) · 8/100,000
- 09 JUN 2026Petition opened for signaturesCreated by Richard Thomson
Background
At a time of growing political disengagement, we feel the UK should modernise its electoral system to reflect modern working and family life. We believe that democracy works best when voting is easy, accessible, and convenient. We therefore call on the Government to move general elections, local elections, and referendums to be held on Saturdays.
Many countries that hold elections at weekends achieve consistently higher voter turnout than the UK. For example, Australia regularly exceeds 90% turnout and Sweden often achieve 75–85%.