What's the longest you've ever had to wait in line to vote? Where in the world?

khannie@lemmy.world to Ask Lemmy@lemmy.world – 91 points –

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.

95

Houston, Texas. 4.5 hours

The lines are intentional to discourage you from voting

GOOD GOD!!!!!!!

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

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.

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.

North Houston Suburbs, no more than 20 minutes.

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.

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

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.

You can even stick it back into your mail box (with the flag up), and the mail man should pick it up.

Man I wish, we have to go to the post office to get mail in my town. They don't deliver to houses.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

I think you hold the record so far!

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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

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?

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

It does feel that way. Not sure if it's foreign elections getting more coverage than they did before maybe shifting the balance in my head.

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

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

I'm gonna grasp at that being positive. My favourite band at a ripe old age, Sylvan Esso, are from NC.

I discovered Sylvan Esso a few days ago and they are fantastic.

Also, The Dø

Thanks will check then out.

If you get the chance, Sylvan Esso are incredible live. Seen them a few times now.

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

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

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.

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)

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.

  1. Mail in ballot for every single election.

Ive heard some people locally take at most 30 mins.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

Somewhere between suburban and rural Pennsylvania here. I think it was about 2 hours the time voted for Obama's second term. Another presidential election was about an hour. Presidental elections have lines outside of work hours because nobody gets off to vote. Non-presidential elections are a few minutes to maybe a half hour tops.

I'm so glad they didn't get rid of early voting after COVID, but I wish the drop boxes were around for more than a few hours on 2 weekends. I like dropping it off rather than trusting the mail, but they're only open 8-5 on weekdays and 10-2 on the last 2 weekends.

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.

Probably 5 minutes or so. 10 if I include the time spent driving there. Usually it's quiet enough that it's not waiting in line but rather waiting to have everything sorted out.

10 minutes, from leaving home to getting back to home, by foot. I have always had a polling place withing walking distance, and have never seen a line more than a few people.

I lived in a city of 25,000 people, a city of 200,000 people, and a city of 10,000 people, all in western NY.

I always vote before 8am.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

Australia (Sydney). A few years ago I went and there was a queue going outside the door and volunteers were telling people that it would take 30-45 minutes but to please stay in line. They were also handing out Tim Tams for people in line. I decided to try another polling station instead, which was 10-15 minutes walk away. There was no queue at all there so I was out within a couple minutes. So that one took the longest even though most of it was walking to another location. Wish there was a way to tell the people in that queue that other locations were empty.

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.

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

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

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.

Oh, I'm thinking about 20 minutes in line outside a small community center, back when I lived in North Dakota (pop of whole state about 600,000). As a lifelong nomad, it was the only state I lived where I actually attended a Democratic party caucus. It was an enjoyable excursion into a behind-the-scenes election process that most will never venture into. Best part was, I escaped without being signed up for anything more!

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

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.

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

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.

I think there were like two couples and another person entering the building just ahead of me, so I had to wait 10 seconds until it was my turn to drop my envelope in the urn. This was in Switzerland, in a suburb of Zürich.

But more often I just walk in up to the box, say hello to the people organising and drop it in directly. I've never encountered a queue yet.

I’ve never had to wait long in New Orleans or DC except for odd circumstances but those places essentially have predetermined elections.

  • During the pandemic in New Orleans, they made the Smoothie King Center the main early voting location. That took a couple of hours but in normal years, I vote at a fire department and it just takes a few minutes.

  • In 2008 in DC, I lived near the White House and my polling place was an historic AME church that was a spot on the Underground Railroad. Every global news channel with staff in DC — so all of them — was trying to interview people. So, I’m not sure that was the voting system’s fault so much as global media asking everyone for a sound bite. (I got interviewed by Japan’s NHK but I didn’t make the cut. If I want to get on Japanese TV, I guess I’ll have to go on a game show.)

But I’ve never lived in a competitive state or district. DC doesn’t have real representation in Congress and Louisiana’s 2nd district is drawn for Voting Rights Act compliance reasons so it’s also not typically competitive. (Louisiana also elects state/local officials in non-presidential years so it’s rarely got much on the ballot besides President and maybe an amendment or two. This year, we voted on whether offshore wind farms would participate in the coastal wetlands restoration program like offshore oil rigs.)