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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[–] eldavi@lemmy.ml 76 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Houston, Texas. 4.5 hours

The lines are intentional to discourage you from voting

[–] khannie@lemmy.world 20 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)
[–] eldavi@lemmy.ml 23 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Fwiw it was less than 10 mins in the affluent neighborhoods I lived near San Francisco, California and New York and 1.5 hours in the poor neighborhoods in those same cities

[–] khannie@lemmy.world 7 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

That's an interesting one. I live in a small town (~10K). It's a fairly middle-class suburb of Dublin and the only place I've ever voted (but many times). Makes me curious if it's different in other neighbourhoods.

[–] eldavi@lemmy.ml 5 points 2 weeks ago

i've lived in 11 cities in this country over the decades chasing work to maintain my health insurance and my experienced seemed normal to my neighbors who had lived there most of their lives as well.

most of those cities had a large proportion of transplants like me and their experiences mirrored mine.

[–] Brunbrun6766@lemmy.world 14 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

North Houston Suburbs, no more than 20 minutes.

[–] eldavi@lemmy.ml 8 points 2 weeks 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.

[–] Brunbrun6766@lemmy.world 3 points 2 weeks ago

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

[–] nobody158@sh.itjust.works 26 points 2 weeks 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.

[–] QuarterSwede@lemmy.world 6 points 2 weeks ago

Colorado, same. I voted 3 weeks ago.

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[–] FluorideMind@lemmy.world 19 points 2 weeks 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.

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[–] IggyTheSmidge@lemmy.blahaj.zone 16 points 2 weeks ago

England - never been a line. The only thing I've ever had to wait for is for the bod manning the polling station to find my name on the list and hand me a voting slip. In and out in a couple of minutes.

[–] sobanto 15 points 2 weeks ago

Maybe 5 minutes in Germany

[–] That_Devil_Girl@lemmy.ml 14 points 2 weeks 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.

[–] bjoern_tantau@swg-empire.de 12 points 2 weeks 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.

[–] HelixDab2@lemm.ee 4 points 2 weeks 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.

[–] Curious_Canid@lemmy.ca 12 points 2 weeks 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.

[–] rikudou@lemmings.world 12 points 2 weeks ago

10 or so minutes once, I came there at the busiest time. Czechia.

[–] schnurrito@discuss.tchncs.de 11 points 2 weeks 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

Four hours, NYC, early voting in 2020. This year it went a lot faster.

[–] FrostyCaveman@lemm.ee 9 points 2 weeks ago

15 mins in AU. I thought I’d try to get it over and done with in the morning.. so did everyone else.

[–] bleistift2@sopuli.xyz 8 points 2 weeks ago

20 seconds, Germany. Waiting while they checked if my name was on the list.

[–] Sundial@lemm.ee 8 points 2 weeks ago

About 2-3 minutes. Canada.

40 minutes, once, in 2015, Canada.

Usually, 2-5 minutes.

[–] savvywolf@pawb.social 6 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

Scotland. I forget which vote it was for (either the independence referendum, brexit, elections, etc.) but maybe 5-10 mins. Other than that one it's been mostly a ghost town.

... Huh, we've been to the polls a lot recently, haven't we?

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[–] wizardbeard@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks 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.

Edit: Went around 3pm and waited maybe 5 mins

[–] BradleyUffner@lemmy.world 6 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

About 15 minutes, this morning in Wilmington, NC. In previous elections here, I've walked in and voted immediately, with no line

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[–] Kit@lemmy.blahaj.zone 5 points 2 weeks ago

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

[–] theywilleatthestars@lemmy.world 5 points 2 weeks ago

Two and a half hours early voting in Chicago

[–] Treczoks@lemmy.world 5 points 2 weeks 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

[–] bcgm3@lemmy.world 4 points 2 weeks ago

Maybe 30 to 45 minutes in Merritt Island, Florida, back in 2004.

It was my first time voting, and I went with my parents after they were home from work, so it's likely that that was the longest anyone there waited.

I've lived all over central Florida since, and have never had to wait at all, but that's mostly because I do Early Voting or even Vote By Mail now.

[–] ContrarianTrail@lemm.ee 4 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks 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.

[–] Fizz@lemmy.nz 4 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

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

[–] Jackthelad@lemmy.world 4 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I had to queue for about 5 minutes for the EU referendum in the UK.

[–] Balthazar@lemmy.world 4 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Yeah, but you lot like queueing, like it's the national pastime.

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[–] lvxferre@mander.xyz 4 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks 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.

[–] mesamunefire@lemmy.world 4 points 2 weeks ago
  1. Mail in ballot for every single election.

Ive heard some people locally take at most 30 mins.

[–] Magister@lemmy.world 4 points 2 weeks ago

Voting for any French election while in Montréal (Québec, Canada) is usually a 3-4 hours wait line

[–] Annoyed_Crabby@monyet.cc 4 points 2 weeks ago

30min in Malaysia in the morning, before the weather get hot. Afterward i've heard it's 5 to 10min. Some people line up for an hour or so on polling station serving larger population.

[–] Volkditty@lemmy.world 4 points 2 weeks 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.

[–] naeap@sopuli.xyz 4 points 2 weeks 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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[–] 0ops@lemm.ee 3 points 2 weeks 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.

[–] Duamerthrax@lemmy.world 3 points 2 weeks ago

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

[–] Roflmasterbigpimp@lemmy.world 3 points 2 weeks ago

5 - 10 min. Germany

[–] spankmonkey@lemmy.world 3 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

10 minutes max in a couple different cities in Kansas, USA, in more that a dozen elections.

That is how it should be everywhere with in person polling locations.

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