The Chief Executive of An Coimisiún Toghcháin, Ireland's independent electoral commission, has said voting taking place in many primary schools is a matter for each constituency’s returning officer.
The holding of the General Election on Friday 29 November will lead to the closure of many of these schools that day.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, Art O’Leary said that previous attempts to vote on Saturdays led to turnout being down.
Those votes, he said, could make all the difference.
"We have 5,500 polling stations all around the country and the selection of venues depends on location, access and cost.
"There is no cost for using a State public building," he said.
He continued: "We did [vote on Saturday] for the last general election, turnout dropped by 2%, and 2% of a very large number is a huge number.
"So those 60,000 would-be voters would make a difference in every constituency.
"There is no easy answer to this. So, Friday it is and that's what we have to work with."
Mr O'Leary encouraged all those who can vote to register as it "takes less than three minutes".
He explained that voters have to be over 18, resident in Ireland and a citizen of Ireland or the UK, and also have to be on the electoral register to be eligible to vote in a general election.
Mr O'Leary said that the register is not a single entity, but 31 separate registers, "and they don't talk to each other".
"But there is a plan under way to fix this in the couple of years, but it won't be done in time for the general election," he added.
He said it is unknown how many people may be on two registers.
"We're doing some research on it at the moment, so hopefully before the end of the year, we'll have a better indication in relation to the state of the register.
"But I think it's safe to say that there is work to be done".
He added: "Accuracy and completeness is one of the priorities of An Coimisiún Toghcháin.
"So, in the coming years we're hoping that we'll have a register that will be much more reflective of the voting population in this country."
