BobbyLayne
Footballguy
What is the longest time you personally have waited in line to vote?
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What is the longest time you personally have waited in line to vote? (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter BobbyLayne
- Start date
BobbyLayne
Footballguy
I have voted more than 20 times in my life, and in 10 Presidential elections.
The reports of people waiting ten hours or more in Georgia yesterday when wary voting opened is astonishing to me. I have never waiting more than 15 minutes to vote.
1980 - rural Midwest
1984 & 1988 - absentee (active duty)
1992 - small Midwest resort town
1996 - midsized City
2000-2016 - 3 different precincts in NYC
Except for the years I was in the USN, always voted early morning on the day of the election.
This year I’ll vote in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, though I’m considering voting early (October 24-November 2.)
The reports of people waiting ten hours or more in Georgia yesterday when wary voting opened is astonishing to me. I have never waiting more than 15 minutes to vote.
1980 - rural Midwest
1984 & 1988 - absentee (active duty)
1992 - small Midwest resort town
1996 - midsized City
2000-2016 - 3 different precincts in NYC
Except for the years I was in the USN, always voted early morning on the day of the election.
This year I’ll vote in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, though I’m considering voting early (October 24-November 2.)
whoknew
Footballguy
I have never waited longer than 20 minutes. But that's because - prior to this election, I would not have waited longer than that.
It just seems crazy to me that voters should have to wait longer than 20 minutes to vote. We should be able to figure something out so that is unnecessary. Like Oregon has, apparently.
It just seems crazy to me that voters should have to wait longer than 20 minutes to vote. We should be able to figure something out so that is unnecessary. Like Oregon has, apparently.
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MN has tons of polling locations, so I've never waited long. In fact, I think I've only waited once, usually I walk right in and get the ballot right away. The only time I remember waiting was when I showed up at 8am as the polls opened and waited maybe 10-15 minutes. Funny thing is, if I had waited until 8:10, I could've walked right in with no wait.
It seems wrong to me that states with long waits don't open more polling stations. Shouldn't be that hard.
It seems wrong to me that states with long waits don't open more polling stations. Shouldn't be that hard.
Marauder
Footballguy
It's a feature not a bug. Brian Kemp (and some other Republican Governors) want long lines. It's part of their voter suppression strategy. They open plenty of polling stations in the largely Republican areas.
Leroy Hoard
Footballguy
Never long, and my absentee ballot has already been counted.
sho nuff
Footballguy
I think the Obama/McCain year we were in a small location and our wait was around 1.5 hours or so. That was a year I was not able to early vote and waited til the morning of the election and went before work. One other year felt long too. Though...might have been closer to 2 hours this past March for primaries. That was due to multiple locations being closed as it was the morning after the tornadoes hit here. We had zero cell service and no power at the house...so I was pretty much out catching up on every bit of news and updates I could and having a coffee while I waited in line.
Now...I early vote. If the location looks packed I just try the next day.
Now...I early vote. If the location looks packed I just try the next day.
Osaurus
Footballguy
mcintyre1
Footballguy
I waited about 2 hours to vote for Obama in the Uptown area of Minneapolis in 2012, but that's been the extreme outlier. Most of my life it's been under 15 minutes.
Bottomfeeder Sports
Footballguy
Not counting the year that my future Congressmen talked endlessly to me outside, no more than 20 minutes. (FYI- The topic was how no one that ever shook my hand had actually won. He broke that streak but I voted against him so he had that going for him as a counter weight.)
IvanKaramazov
Footballguy
Yeah, I also learned the hard way that showing up right when the polls open is a rookie mistake. I don't think I've ever waited more than 5 minutes or so since.
bagger
Footballguy
I agree. I have voted in the suburbs of Los Angeles and in Phoenix/Scottsdale. Never have I waited for more than 15 minutes. With that said I have voted by mail for quite some time now but I could not imagine waiting in line for 10 hours to vote.
Dr_Zaius
Footballguy
I personally waited 2 1/2 hours the morning of the Bush/Kerry election. Wife waited 4 hours in the afternoon. People were still voting more than an hour after the polls officially closed (they put a worker at the end of the line to make sure it was only people who were there before closing), which was actually after the state was called. There was a big housing boom in the area between 2000 and 2004 and somehow no changes had been made to handle the surge. After the election that polling place was split into 9 different sites and it's been fine since then. Although, I probably waited almost 30 minutes for the primary this year as they were short-staffed and the workers who were there seemed to have no idea what they were doing.
BobbyLayne
Footballguy
Interesting distribution
My experience on voting for the last nearly 40 years has been it's always been extremely easy. Now more than ever. Polls here in Knoxville, TN seem like they're open for weeks with early voting for tons of time. Again, just my local experience, but if the goal was making voting as easy as possible for everyone, I'm not sure they could do any better than what they do here.
Another question - anyone prefer to wait till the actual day of the election to vote? I do. Something about the excitement of the actual day seems important to me. I early voted one time several years ago and ever since then, I've gone back to voting on the actual day.
Another question - anyone prefer to wait till the actual day of the election to vote? I do. Something about the excitement of the actual day seems important to me. I early voted one time several years ago and ever since then, I've gone back to voting on the actual day.
CletiusMaximus
Footballguy
I almost always vote early, but my wife and several of our friends prefer to do it on election day for the same reason - it just feels better to them to be part of the election day process.
I had an outlier experience in Wisconsin last Spring, where a combination of COVID and politics had me waiting 4 hours to vote in our state supreme court election (together with the presidential primary and a few others of lesser importance to me.) Other than that one time, its been under 5 minutes for as long as I can remember.
Long Ball Larry
Footballguy
Maybe that's the best day for that person to do it? Like they usually work or have other stuff to do?
Long Ball Larry
Footballguy
It may have happened, but I can't ever remember waiting for more than a few people.
Don Quixote
Footballguy
People off work due to Columbus Day holiday, and would not have option to vote on Election Day (or another weekday) without losing money?
ETA: Nevermind — Lines were yesterday and days are just blending together for me now.
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Dr_Zaius
Footballguy
I personally don't like the super long voting window as you are only voting on what you know right now. You saw this with the primary this year where the candidate some people voted for dropped out by the time election day rolled around and their vote was wasted. Of course, that's not likely to happen in a general election. Still, even if it's like a 1% chance, what happens if you vote for someone and between then and election day that person gets arrested / dies / says something incredibly offensive?Joe Bryant said:
Don Quixote
Footballguy
While I agree with that in general and particularly with regard to primary, I could not see anything changing my mind between now and then.
If I could borrow a line, I think Biden could shoot a man on 5th Avenue and I’d still vote for him over Trump.
Dr_Zaius
Footballguy
I actually thought about including a candidate shooting someone on 5th avenue as a hypothetical but decided against it. I agree with your point, as I would include myself with the vast majority of people whose minds are pretty much firmly set, although I still like to wait. It's probably a personality quirk, like continuing to look at the menu until the waitress comes even though you know what you want. If it was a bigger hardship for me to vote election day I would probably bite the bullet and do it early.
Totally understand but like most everything, there's a tradeoff.
In my opinion, the negative of something happening that would make you change your vote is far outweighed by making it so much easier for people to vote with the extended window with early voting.
Approximately zero minutes. I've never seen a line.
KarmaPolice
Footballguy
Small town, so 10mins or so?
FUBAR
Footballguy
I've been absentee voting most of my life. But waited about 30 minutes in 2016, maybe 5 in 2018.
I expect to wait over an hour in line this year. Just deciding whether it's worth it or if I should go to the courthouse now and get the absentee ballot.
I don't like to say it, but my federal votes won't matter here. (Our state is crimson)
I expect to wait over an hour in line this year. Just deciding whether it's worth it or if I should go to the courthouse now and get the absentee ballot.
I don't like to say it, but my federal votes won't matter here. (Our state is crimson)
In Florida:
"Early voting is required in any election that contains a state or federal office race. The early voting period must start at least on the 10th day before the election and end on the 3rd day before the election. In addition, supervisors of elections have the option to offer more early voting on the 15th, 14th, 13th, 12th, 11th, or 2nd day before an election."
So, in most counties, early in-person voting starts next Monday, Oct 19, and ends Sunday, Nov 1, even in smaller red counties that also want to get out the vote. These early voting places also have VBM drop boxes. In Miami-Dade, there are 20+ early voting sites, including the 2 big campuses of Miami Dade College, which has an enrollment of well over 100,000 students (Democrats had to fight for those 2 sites).
My oldest daughter and I plan to vote next Wednesday or so, at the same location where we voted for the 2012 winner for her first presidential vote.
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