Current Affairs General US politics (ie, not POTUS related)

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How long does it take anyone who votes in person? First time for me in person in a long while (and the last time I went mid-day between classes) and it was over an hour. Just more of an annoyance than I feel like it should be.
 
TheBigIguana said:
How long does it take anyone who votes in person? First time for me in person in a long while (and the last time I went mid-day between classes) and it was over an hour. Just more of an annoyance than I feel like it should be.
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It depends.

I spent the better part of a decade living in a precinct where the wait was generally 15-30 minutes in a competitive primary or presidential election. The midterm wait was usually at the lower end. The longest I can recall waiting was 45 minutes in 2000 (in another state), and that one was nuts everywhere.

I now live in this tiny precinct where they really, really, really want to count my vote for some reason. I walked right up at 10 AM, and realized that the only reason that there was a universe where I might have to wait is that I misjudged the average age of the people living in the subdivision to the north of me. Lot of retirees up there, apparently.

If you live in a low-income area in a racially divided state that wants to suppress your vote because you are probably of a certain ethnicity, call it one to four hours. Thirty minutes to an hour is fairly typical if the situation is reversed and you're a rural, likely white voter in a state that prefers to suppress yours.

If you're reporting north of an hour anywhere other than the most underprivileged districts, that's probably a good sign for the Democrats.
 
Martin Alvito said:
It depends.

I spent the better part of a decade living in a precinct where the wait was generally 15-30 minutes in a competitive primary or presidential election. The midterm wait was usually at the lower end. The longest I can recall waiting was 45 minutes in 2000 (in another state), and that one was nuts everywhere.

I now live in this tiny precinct where they really, really, really want to count my vote for some reason. I walked right up at 10 AM, and realized that the only reason that there was a universe where I might have to wait is that I misjudged the average age of the people living in the subdivision to the north of me. Lot of retirees up there, apparently.

If you live in a low-income area in a racially divided state that wants to suppress your vote because you are probably of a certain ethnicity, call it one to four hours. Thirty minutes to an hour is fairly typical if the situation is reversed and you're a rural, likely white voter in a state that prefers to suppress yours.

If you're reporting north of an hour anywhere other than the most underprivileged districts, that's probably a good sign for the Democrats.
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I live in Maryland. The polls closed at 8 and they called the governor race at 8:01. Tough to say turnout here means anything for competitive races.
 
TheBigIguana said:
How long does it take anyone who votes in person? First time for me in person in a long while (and the last time I went mid-day between classes) and it was over an hour. Just more of an annoyance than I feel like it should be.
Click to expand...
It was painfully slow for me today. Since the last election, new rules have been set up in our county that everyone has to vote by paper ballot, like it’s the 1800’s. By 2024 we’ll probably be using ink and quills or carving into stone tablets.

When I got to the polling location there were probably 50-100 people in line in front of me. Once you eventually got inside, you show your ID, fill out a slip of paper and were directed to a second table where you had to show ID a second time, and sign the voter roll that you were voting. At that point you made your way to the line to collect your ballot, which was printed at the ONE solitary printer that they had for two entire precincts that voted at this location. Then you made your way to a table to fill in bubbles on the paper ballot. Then, finally you made your way to the last stop on your journey, a machine that you fed the paper ballot into that scanned your vote.

All in all, an absurdly tedious process that even with fewer than 100 people in front of me took roughly 1 1/2 to 2 hours. A lot of effort to go cast a bunch of meaningless votes deep in MAGA land, which is undoubtedly how they want it.
 
TheBigIguana said:
I live in Maryland. The polls closed at 8 and they called the governor race at 8:01. Tough to say turnout here means anything for competitive races.
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They do that with exit polls. Hogan could lose half of his lead from the last trip around and they can still call it on those.

The interesting question is whether or not what you experienced is reflective of reality across the country, if it's dictated by specific characteristics (probably best modeled as demographic) of where you voted, or whether it's more or less random chance. I would need to know a lot more about where you voted, which does a fairly good job of doxing you, so I'm not inclined to pry much further.
 
TN Toffee said:
It was painfully slow for me today. Since the last election, new rules have been set up in our county that everyone has to vote by paper ballot, like it’s the 1800’s. By 2024 we’ll probably be using ink and quills or carving into stone tablets.

When I got to the polling location there were probably 50-100 people in line in front of me. Once you eventually got inside, you show your ID, fill out a slip of paper and were directed to a second table where you had to show ID a second time, and sign the voter roll that you were voting. At that point you made your way to the line to collect your ballot, which was printed at the ONE solitary printer that they had for two entire precincts that voted at this location. Then you made your way to a table to fill in bubbles on the paper ballot. Then, finally you made your way to the last stop on your journey, a machine that you fed the paper ballot into that scanned your vote.

All in all, an absurdly tedious process that even with fewer than 100 people in front of me took roughly 1 1/2 to 2 hours. A lot of effort to go cast a bunch of meaningless votes deep in MAGA land, which is undoubtedly how they want it.
Click to expand...
We fill in a standardized test ballot. With a pen. Which is weird, since it's normally a #2 pencil on those. The pen is blue, which is weirder.

What's weirdest of all is that anyone could walk around and see who I was voting for. If you want my opinion, they used to do just that in my previous precinct. Good way to make sure that local businesses pay off in promised votes.

Having lived down your way, I recall the touch screens in the Bush 43-McCain era, and wonder why on Earth they would do such a thing. It's not like the good old boys network ever loses, in business or politics.
 
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