this post was submitted on 05 Nov 2024
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Me: Ireland - Approximately 2 minutes until poll in hand is the longest.

I've been seeing long lines for the US elections even for early voting. Seems completely unnecessary.

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 18 minutes ago

The longest for me was about 30 seconds. Coincidentally about as much as sex.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 40 minutes ago

Probably about 2 minutes, but usually I never have to queue.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 41 minutes ago

If I remember correctly in Corona times it was something like 10-15 minutes. Other then that mostly not at all. Country Germany

[–] [email protected] 2 points 52 minutes ago

Still waiting cast my vote for Obama the second time.

Maybe if Missouri gets a new AG they'll get around to processing those provisional ballots.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 hour ago

5 minutes. I don't live in a swing state and go during work hours, so that might effect it.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 hour ago

No more that 5 minutes.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 1 hour ago)

5 mins, new Zealand. The voting places are super empty because they open for multiple days.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

7 hours. People were showing up with pizza and sandwiches for everyone in line. It really destroyed my faith in my local government but built my sense of community.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 minutes ago* (last edited 6 minutes ago)

I think you hold the record so far!

Edit: also fair play to you for sticking it out.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 hour ago

3 hour wait to vote for Obama. Since then it's been 20-30 minutes every time.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 hour ago

A few minutes. No minutes today, or most years here. I'm in a solidly blue state though.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 hour ago

About an hour in 2020 I think. I'm in a semi-rural Republican-leaning district that won't ever vote Democrat, but I still show up to vote anyways. Usually, I'm in and out pretty quickly every election, maybe 5-10 minutes at most. For some reason, guessing because of its importance, 2020 the line just took quite a bit longer. Every other election, presidential or otherwise, there's never a wait.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 hours ago

I once waited half an hour for voting, because I foolishly decided to vote just when Sunday mass was over (we vote on Sundays, and my polling station was right across the church). Never made that mistake again, waiting time is usually five to ten minutes.

Location: Germany

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 1 hour ago)

I haven't ever needed to wait. I go in, hand them my ID, they cross my name off the list, hand me the ballot, I go to the booth and write a number, dude stamps it, I drop it to the box and I'm out. Takes about 3 minutes from when I step out of my car untill I'm back in again.

[–] captain_aggravated 2 points 1 hour ago

The one time I voted actually on election day I waited about 20 minutes. This is in Suburban North Carolina. I was in line about 5 minutes this election.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 hour ago

Usually not very long but one time there were THREE cars in front of me at the drive through ballot drop box. That was a good 20 to 30 seconds of my life I'll never get back. Bunch of slackers waiting til the last day!

Yesterday I went to vote in person for the first time in a really long time, because I moved to a different county and didn't re-register soon enough to get a mail-in ballot. It was super smooth, didn't wait longer than a minute or two while they did their admin stuff and then I was voting.

Colorado, USA.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 hour ago

About 45 minutes, as I recall, in Grand Rapids, Michigan. I think that was the year that marriage equality (e.g., gay marriage) was on the ballot in Michigan. (I just looked it up; it was a vote to amend the state constitution to ban civil unions and marriage equality.) That was in 2004. Since then, I don't remember ever having to wait more than 10 minutes when voting in person.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 hours ago

Today in the US was for me. The polling place was only a 5 minute walk away, but the wait was about 45 minutes. Tbf though, I naturally managed to pick the slowest moving line by a good margin; people who were initially standing behind me switched to other lines midway through and were able to get their ballot before me. I would guess most people were there for 30 minutes.

For every previous election I voted in-person, the wait was like 10 minutes tops, but those were in smaller towns.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 hours ago

Never more than 10 minutes. Often no waiting at all.

In Germany, we have small local voting places everywhere. These are like makeshift offices that exist only for this day in the schools or other public places. Volunteers are working there to support the voting procedures, usually on a Sunday from 8-18h, and in the evening they count the votes, according to a strict protocol.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 4 hours ago

My first presidential election was in 1980. I waited almost six hours to vote for Jimmy Carter in Iowa City, Iowa, USA (a medium-sized college town).

It was surprisingly festive. There were people walking the line handing out water and snacks. There were several musicians performing at various points along the line.

[–] [email protected] 58 points 7 hours ago (5 children)

Houston, Texas. 4.5 hours

The lines are intentional to discourage you from voting

[–] [email protected] 10 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

North Houston Suburbs, no more than 20 minutes.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

ditto when i moved to austin.

anecdotally: the length of the lines correlate with the wealth of the voting district. i think that texas is like arizona & georgia in that when the lines are long; they're REALLY long compared to the long lines i experienced in california, new york, & illinois; but the short line places always seemed to be much emptier on election day for some reason.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 hours ago

For sure, my area isn't necessarily more wealthy, but it is definitely more republican. Coincidence?

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 hours ago

Just got back from voting, no wait. It's about a 10 minute walk from my house to the polling place. They had 3 lanes open for people to check in, only 1 was occupied. I was in and out in under 5 minutes. Longest I've ever had to wait was probably 45-60 minutes in 2016 but that was at a different polling place that was always poorly organized.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

Portsmouth, Virginia here. The early in-person voting line was around the block and took over 2 hours to get through.

Granted it's not as long as others, but it is a good sign when early voting lines are so long.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

That's not a good sign. That's a sign that your government wants to keep people from voting. There should be more voting locations. Like, 5 to 10 times more.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 hour ago

If I remember correctly, Republicans in Georgia have consolidated voting locations in Atlanta--which is heavily Democratic--despite there being long line and hours of waiting in 2020. Is it intentional? 100%. In the rural parts of Georgia--and I'm pretty rural--you're in and out in only slightly longer than it takes to read the ballot.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 hours ago

Germany, zero minutes. Postal voting ftw!

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 hours ago

Two and a half hours early voting in Chicago

[–] neidu3 2 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 1 hour ago)

In 2009 there were like three people in line in front of me. Must've taken at least 30 seconds before an available election official could check my ID. It was extremely early in the early voting period, and there was only one place open that early. I was going to be abroad for the next month, so I had to vote that day.

When not voting early, I can't recall there ever being a line.

"2009 election, you say??"

Norway.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 hours ago
  1. Mail in ballot for every single election.

Ive heard some people locally take at most 30 mins.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 hours ago

I think about 10 minutes in Canada. Maybe 15 when I was in Vancouver.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago)

Ten minutes, I guess? Brazil.

Hard of hearing old lady, right before me, was struggling to vote in the 2022 elections. Apparently she typed the numbers for her candidates but they didn't go through. All five of them (governor, state deputy, president, federal deputy, senator).

Typically it takes 2~3 minutes though.

[–] nobody158 22 points 6 hours ago (3 children)

Oregon here 0 minutes. My ballot is delivered in the mail and I can drop it off at the post office or ballot drop box.

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 hours ago

I always do early voting. Usually no wait but unfortunately I picked a sunny weekend day to do it once, had to wait 15 minutes.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 6 hours ago* (last edited 6 hours ago) (1 children)

I remember rushing home, changing out of my uniform and jumping in line at the local library… and I stood there for like 4-6 hours in the freezing cold. Rosario Dawson, the actress, actually came by with donuts, back before the republicans outlawed providing food and water to people in voting lines. I actually took a picture of my wife with her, she was so kind. My wife and I were taking turns hiding in the car to stay warm, and saving a place in line. I couldn’t believe how cold and how long the line was. The shitty thing was that it was also extremely windy, the cold bit hard.

This was Atlanta, GA probably for the Biden/Trump election in 2020. I’ve voted early ever since, I walk in and out within like 15 minutes now. I’m not doing 4-6 hour lines ever again.

Edit: poll workers actually came out and designated someone as the last voter, and we stayed in line well past the normal close time. But, they had to get the last person who showed up before close.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

poll workers actually came out and designated someone as the last voter

I did wonder about this. That's cool to know and seems like a fair way to run it if you're in the line before the station closes. Thanks for the insight.

Awesome about Rosario Dawson too!

[–] [email protected] 15 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

The shitty thing is, the long lines are by design. Election officials are regularly closing polling locations in inner cities because ‘they don’t have the funding to keep so many open’, when the state government chooses not to fund them. Rural areas have always had quick in-and-out voting merely due to how many people they’re providing for. While increasing the wait times at inner city polling places causes some voters to either not get the chance to vote because either they’re not allowed to at some point, or the extra votes aren’t sent up because they were too late… or it causes people to go home instead of wait in the freezing cold ass line for 4-6 hours. Some people were complaining about 8 hour lines that year.

They cheat to win however they can.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago) (2 children)

They cheat to win however they can.

From the outside looking it it does appear that way but it seems so....un-American. I've spent a decent bit of time over there over the course of my life (north of 6 months total, mostly up and down both coasts) and I'm genuinely very fond of the US and its people and that has given me this internal sense of what "un-American" is if that isn't a ludicrous statement.

The whole "rig things to your advantage" thing is really mask off at this point and I'm surprised that it's tolerated.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago)

From the outside looking it it does appear that way but it seems so…un-American.

it's at our core and since our founding; things like the electoral college (the same one that's helping trump win) were implemented to give the few wealthy people a way of preventing the masses of poor people from obtaining meaningful political representation. at the time of its inception, the few wealthy were slave owners and the masses of the poor were mostly immigrants with relatively strong abolitionist & populist views for the time.

I’ve spent a decent bit of time over there over the course of my life (north of 6 months total, mostly up and down both coasts) and I’m genuinely very fond of the US and its people and that has given me this internal sense of what “un-American” is if that isn’t a ludicrous statement.

i think it's common if you don't study the origin of this country deeply enough and i also think we all can be forgiven for not doing so since taking that action requires overcoming many obstacles designed to prevent you from doing so; also it's depressing af and on too many levels.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

It’s by state, and would never be tolerated where I live.

Unfortunately it seems to be a systemic issue with certain states. At one point several had federally monitored elections to prevent shenanigans but I don’t know if that’s true anymore

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago)

Unfortunately it seems to be a systemic issue with certain states. At one point several had federally monitored elections to prevent shenanigans but I don’t know if that’s true anymore

i think that you're referring to the voting rights act of 1965 and it was rendered toothless by the supreme court in 2013 and it was created because of those systematic issues.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 6 hours ago

~1 minute here in Austria, usually it takes longer to find the right room than to wait in line when I've found it

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

Maybe 2-5mins, if they had to sort something out first with a person in front of me

Usually I go in, have a line of 2-3 people at most, and just tell my name and address, go vote and I'm usually done in like 5mins altogether - 10-15mins for the process is already something I've never experienced and would pretty much get to my nerves...

(Austria)

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 5 hours ago

US- Wife went 30 minutes after polls opened and ended up waiting an hour today. New location for us, so don't know if this is normal here. I'll edit later with my experience.

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