Every November, voters try to squeeze in a little time on their lunch hour, before work, after work or in between picking up the kids and making dinner to get to the polls.

But what if elections were held on a day when most people didn't work?

One Chicopee city councilor is proposing switching the day city elections are held from the traditional Tuesday to a Saturday.

"As the world has changed, the way we vote hasn't," Councilor Joel McAuliffe said. "We want to expand access to voters. The discussion is good to have."

But his proposal, which was moved to subcommittee in June for more discussion, is being met with skepticism by some and disinterest by others.

"There are a lot of reasons people don't vote and a Tuesday election is not on the top of the list," said Pam Wilmot, executive director of Common Cause Massachusetts. "But if a community wants to try something, more power to them."

Some of the top reasons communities often barely eke out a 25 percent voter turnout include scheduling too many elections close together, having too many unopposed seats and indifference about the candidates, she said.

"It could increase participation and it is possible it may not," Wilmot said of the Saturday voting proposal. "None of it is a silver bullet."

She agreed with McAuliffe that it is worth a try, but added that changing something so entrenched in tradition is not easy.

The proposal would only switch city election days since state and federal elections are set by those governments. That means Saturday elections could only happen every other year when they are held for local races including mayor, city council, treasurer and school committee.

The City Council would first have to agree to change the date to Saturday. If councilors approved the proposal, they would also have to change the city's charter, written in 1897. The charter is changed from time to time, but to do so the council and the mayor must petition the state Legislature or put the charter change on the general election ballot.

City Clerk Keith W. Rattell said he sees logistical issues standing in the way of switching voting days to Saturdays.

"First of all, it is my job and my passion to get as many people as we can in the city of Chicopee to vote in elections, and there are many ways to do that," he said.

On Election Day, polls are open from 7 a.m. to 7 or 8 p.m. and under state law employers must allow workers time off to vote if they request it.

People who know they cannot vote on Election Day can cast an absentee ballot. The city does everything it can to make it convenient for residents to do so, Rattell said. Voters can request an absentee ballot up to a month ahead of time and can come into City Hall in person, request a ballot, fill it out, seal the envelope and give it back all in the same trip. They can also request one by mail or email and send it back, he said.

The clerk's office works with nursing homes if they have residents who are too infirm to come to the polls. Rattell said he remembers one staff member hand-delivering an absentee ballot to someone who was in the hospital and upset she could not vote, he said.

In the November 2017 election, 12.3 percent of Chicopee voters cast ballots. The election had no mayor's race but several hotly contested City Council races. By contrast, there was 66 percent turnout in the November 2016 presidential election.

Saturday elections could create a problem for staffing, Rattell said. Since his employees are unionized, he would have to work with bargaining units to change work hours. Most of his poll workers are retired and available during the week, but on weekends they may rather spend time with family and friends, Rattell said.

Rattell said he also questions if switching days would change turnout much or at all. When the city had early voting last year for the presidential election, it included a Saturday. Plenty of people took advantage, but it did not increase the overall turnout much.

Several people said the biggest impediment to Saturday voting is the Jewish sabbath. McAuliffe said that could be an issue, but added there are very few Jewish people in Chicopee and no synagogues are located in the city. In fact, about two years ago when officials were debating moving a primary election date because of Jewish holidays, Rattell said he could not find any Jewish leaders in Chicopee to consult.

The secretary of state's office does not keep a list of communities that hold elections on days other than Tuesday, but said towns that do not have charters can hold elections anytime between Feb. 1 and June 30. In smaller towns, the date of the annual election is usually set by the board of selectmen, said Debra O'Malley, election specialist for the secretary's office.

Marie Y. Ryan, president of the Massachusetts Town Clerks Association, is clerk in Great Barrington and in Richmond. Great Barrington holds elections on Tuesdays and Richmond holds elections on Saturdays. Ryan said she can see the pros and cons of each.

"Richmond is a very small town and elections have always been on Saturday. Not a lot of people vote," she said.

The reason is not because people don't want to or can't vote on Saturday, but because there are only about 1,400 residents in the Berkshire County town, she said.

"A lot of people work on Saturdays as well and on the weekends people make plans to go away," she said.

One advantage is it may be easier to use schools for polling places on the weekends. It can be difficult to find handicap-accessible places, so most communities set up polling places in school gyms. But concerns about student and staff security makes that more difficult now, Ryan said.

European and Middle Eastern countries hold elections on the weekend, said Linda Matys O'Connell, convener of the League of Women Voters in Springfield.

"I think generally the League is all for anything that will improve the voter experience," she said. "A lot of nonvoters say they are too busy or it conflicts with their schedules."

The selection of Tuesday as the voting day dates to when the U.S. was an agrarian society. People would have to go into town to conduct business and vote at the same time. Weekends were not an option because people would not vote on a religious day, she said.