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Yuge lines this morning. Yuge!


Moxie
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I went at 10:30, which should have been one of the best times to go. The backup was due to them having only one machine to process the ballots in. In the past, we've had at least two. It's going to be a mess at lunchtime and when people get off of work.

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AZ has decreased its number of polling places, but we have early voting and voting by mail.  You can mail your ballot in early, go to an early voting polling place in person, or you can hand in your mail in ballot at a polling place on election day.  So be sure you know about all those factors in your area before you decide of it's a plot of some kind.  I'm not saying it is or it isn't, I'm saying know all about the details before you pick a side.

I'll take my mail in ballot to the polls today.  I have dealt with the local post office.  Enough said.

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We went at opening time and altogether it took 40 minutes because the line was so long.  Another man in the line said the line was longer in 2008.  WE had lots of places where people could mark their ballot both booths and tables with chairs but the slowness was due to the names only being divided in two and therefore only six people can be going through the registration process at a time.  One for checking the roll, one for checking the ID and you having to sign, and the third to give you your ballot.  Our polling station allows 70+ year olds to cut in line (but most didn't anyway) and also if you were disabled in any way so I saw people with canes and a lady who was having a hard tie walking go to the front.   I passed by several polling areas.  The two ones in the poorer areas weren't very busy.    Probably because the Presidential election for this state is a certainty as is the Senate seat and the Representative for our area. In much of the area, and that includes the poorer area I passed, there are no other contested races. There are lots of constitutional amendments including a very popular one about state parks but state parks might not be as popular there even though we have a state park in our own city.

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I'll take my mail in ballot to the polls today.  I have dealt with the local post office.  Enough said.

 

We always drop off our ballots in person too, even with vote by mail. I'm at the library every week, so I usually take them there, as I did two weeks ago. Our paper had a front-page article some time last week that if you hadn't mailed them yet, don't. Too late to ensure they would get there in time, so everyone who hasn't voted yet will be using the drop boxes located around town today.

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We always drop off our ballots in person too, even with vote by mail. I'm at the library every week, so I usually take them there, as I did two weeks ago. Our paper had a front-page article some time last week that if you hadn't mailed them yet, don't. Too late to ensure they would get there in time, so everyone who hasn't voted yet will be using the drop boxes located around town today.

 

When we lived in Oregon, we always took ours to the library.  I miss that!

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When we lived in Oregon, we always took ours to the library.  I miss that!

 

We drop ours at the library too. It's the same one we have gone to for 20+ years. It's kind of cool that our adult children drop their ballots at the same place they went to for story time as toddlers.  I love that we get the sense of community without the hassle of standing in line.

 

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While waiting for another library to open, the ballot officers came around 9am and collected the mail in ballots. They counted 504 ballots. Didn't see these officers last week at the same library.

 

It was a worse traffic jam than usual on the freeway today. Many would be late for work since we were stuck in traffic longer than a typical Tuesday morning commute. Even the tech companies shuttles are stuck in traffic, usually the shuttles speed past the cars on the freeway.

Edited by Arcadia
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Whose tactic?  Someone intentionally creates fewer voting places?  The same ones have been around for decades here and some are busy and others just are not.

Florida has enormous lines today, for example. More people had voted by 9 a.m. than through the entire election last time. 

 

 

"Boone County: 56K people, 9 early voting locations. Marion County (Indianapolis): 900K people, 1 location."

 

"27% of Marion County is black, far more than Indiana overall (8.4%). As you probably guessed given the story."

 

https://twitter.com/Taniel/status/795869526336348160

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I voted early and while it didn't take long, there were a couple people in front of me.  That is unusual for early-voting around here.

 

I find it soo irritating when the poll-workers are crotchedy.  The lady gives me my ballot, pointing out that it is double-sided and how to fold it afterwards.  So I go into the booth to vote, finish the first side an turn it over, and while there is stuff on the other side, none of it seems to be for the voter.  So I don't fold it but take it to the next table to verify that I'm not missing something (I have anxiety about accidentally missing something in these kinds of things) and the woman comes over from the first table to scold me for not folding it yet.  I asked my question & all was well - there was actually nothing I needed to do on the 2nd page (then why make such a point to point out it was 2-pages?) but she was quite distressed that I didn't fold it before I got to the table.

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I think it is very naive to think that low wage workers, who often work several part times jobs, can count on their employers giving them time off to vote...especially if the lines are so long that they would need to wait several hours.  People who are living hand to mouth, getting paid under the table and working in high turnover jobs primarily for tips simply cannot afford to ask for or take several hours of unpaid time off.

 

Indeed. Unfortunately, just because something is the law, that doesn't mean that employers are going to follow the law... and the lower your wages, the more likely it is that your boss will think they can do what they like.

 

I voted at 11, and there was pretty much no line. There never is. I don't know if this is because we have adequate polling locations or because people in my neighborhood don't like to vote on Election Day.

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I'm just ready for the Get out the vote people to leave me alone. I just talked to the 4th canvasser since last night. I know we are in a 90%+ precinct and they want to run up the score to offset out state...  I could see out precinct having no Trump voters this year since he explicitly called 25%+ of the local electorate terrorists.

 

ETA: I voted early this time since it is now an option... much better than the 2hr+ wait in '12.

Edited by raptor_dad
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We did early voting last weekend.  In and out in about 10 minutes.  Many people in our county did this as well--it's being reported that something like 180,000 out of 525,000 registered voted early.  That is a lot.

 

Local polling places are reporting less than 10 minute waits today, too.  We have 3 in our neighborhood, all about 3/4 mile apart.  That feels about standard for hte county, but I'm not sure.  We are in a white pocket, where 76% of the zip code is white.  The overall demographics are 33% white.  

 

Same county, in 2000 (but one precinct over), and the wait was 2+ hours.  I think the early voting this year helped.  

Edited by Zinnia
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"Boone County: 56K people, 9 early voting locations. Marion County (Indianapolis): 900K people, 1 location."

 

"27% of Marion County is black, far more than Indiana overall (8.4%). As you probably guessed given the story."

 

https://twitter.com/Taniel/status/795869526336348160

 

 

Just to clarify (because I overlooked the word at first):  This refers to EARLY voting along with the option of mail-in absentee ballots.  On election day there are 600 precincts available for voting in the county.  

 

I do, however, think that there should be more early voting locations for a county that large.

Edited by debinindy
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I just checked - NYS only allows for very limited early voting. You must match one of these categories:

 

  • Be absent from your county or the city of New York on Election Day, Nov 8
  • Be unable to vote in person because you have a temporary or permanent illness or disability or because youĂ¢â‚¬â„¢re the primary caregiver of one or more individuals who are ill or physically disabled
  • Be a patient or inmate in a Veterans Administration Hospital
  • Be detained in jail, awaiting trial or Grand Jury action, or in prison conviction for an offense that isnĂ¢â‚¬â„¢t a felony

(Incidentally, convicted felons can vote if they're pardoned, paroled, or released. They just have to re-register in the usual fashion. We also don't require people to show an ID to vote unless it's their first time and they didn't show one when they registered.)

Edited by Tanaqui
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Just voted, there was only one person in line ahead of me.

 

Have to say, though, I wasn't very impressed with the training of poll workers. The two at the table were telling the person ahead that they needed extra ID, something like a utility bill. The ID that person had presented? A US passport.

 

What more official ID is there?!?

 

They apparently thought anything other than a driver's licence meant you needed two forms of ID. In spite of the list taped there to the table showing multiple single ID options including, of course, a US passport.

 

Fortunately another poll worker came over and straightened things out.

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We had a line for the first time in years. But we went early with the morning rush and at the last minute they changed our polling place so two polling places were together in one. It still wasn't too long a wait. We chatted with a political journalist who was new in town and saw lots of pantsuits. I wore a suffragette sash.

 

In general, one party does better with overall more turnout and access. If that party is in charge where you live, often all the polling places are more accessible and better set up regardless of race, though not always. In pretty much every single modern democracy, neither party is allowed to control so many aspects of the voting process. The US is extremely unusual in this and it's generally seen as very undemocratic (little d, not party D).

 

ETA: Oh, and we might be on French TV. France24 was filming the voting and interviewing people while we were in line.

Edited by Farrar
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everyone knows that if you're in the line to vote when polls close, they have to let you vote, right? 

 

Let people know so people don't leave at the end of the day if there's a line. 

We were watching CNN the other night and they were showing the head of the Republican party in Nevada up on stage (perhaps a Trump rally?) complaining that an early voting polling place had stayed open three hours past closing time so "certain people" (his words) could vote, implying that this is part of a "rigged" system. The CNN folks were explaining well that anyone in line at closing time gets to vote. And poking fun at him saying, "What does he mean by 'certain people?' U.S. citizens? Neighbors?" But you can see how some people might get the idea that you have to be finished by the time polls closed--there are people spreading that misinformation.

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I was in and out real fast no there was no line to wait in but there were more people in my poling location then usual and a bunch of names were marked off early voting.

 

My one complaint is I have a polling place in walking distance but it is not my poling location. I live very close to the neighborhood school. I have other closer schools too but my poling location is over 2 miles away.

Edited by MistyMountain
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The two at the table were telling the person ahead that they needed extra ID, something like a utility bill. The ID that person had presented? A US passport.

 

What more official ID is there?!?

.

Depends on the purpose of the ID, but a passport does not serve as proof of address. We run inot this at the library frequently, when people get irritable that we can't issue a card on the spot because we have to verify they live in the county. A passport proves identity, but not whethe you are voting in the right precinct.

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I voted absentee when I was 21, which was long before the internet and I didn't have a car.  It is a planning issue.

 

You cannot vote absentee here for "not having a car". The only 'planning' you can do is plan to be out-of-state today and vote absentee that way.

Edited by luuknam
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Some states have intentionally kept the number of polling locations in heavily minority districts lower than in majority white districts with the same population.

 

Most likely because historically there is a low turnout in some districts.  It makes sense to take past turnout into account when deciding how many workers / booths to provide.  That is a normal and expected management decision, regardless of party.

Edited by SKL
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Whose tactic?  Someone intentionally creates fewer voting places?  The same ones have been around for decades here and some are busy and others just are not.

Florida has enormous lines today, for example. More people had voted by 9 a.m. than through the entire election last time. 

 

 

I'm pretty sure it was Alabama that decreased the number of polling stations in areas where people would most likely have a harder time driving to polls because they depended on mass transit. And are typically Democratic voters in a Republican state. But note I said "pretty sure". I'm going to try to find the info on that because it's been a few months since I saw it. If it wasn't Alabama, it was another deep South state.

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We were watching CNN the other night and they were showing the head of the Republican party in Nevada up on stage (perhaps a Trump rally?) complaining that an early voting polling place had stayed open three hours past closing time so "certain people" (his words) could vote, implying that this is part of a "rigged" system. The CNN folks were explaining well that anyone in line at closing time gets to vote. And poking fun at him saying, "What does he mean by 'certain people?' U.S. citizens? Neighbors?" But you can see how some people might get the idea that you have to be finished by the time polls closed--there are people spreading that misinformation.

 

They were actually in court this morning seeking to have some of those ballots challenged. 

 

"The Trump campaign filed the lawsuit Tuesday against Joe Gloria, the Clark County Registrar of Voters, accusing him of wrongly keeping four polling locations open late for early voting on Friday."

 

The judge declined to agree. 

 

http://www.theatlantic.com/liveblogs/2016/11/election-results-trump-clinton/505442/11096/?utm_source=atltw

 

 

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You cannot vote absentee here for "not having a car". The only 'planning' you can do is plan to be out-of-state today and vote absentee that way.

 

Here I could also absentee vote if I "planned" to be physically disabled, "planned" to be confined in jail or "planned" to have turned 60 by election day.

 

Wendy

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Funny thing, I know low-wage people who will take off work (or refuse certain days/hours) to watch a ball game they care about. But I don't know any who had a problem voting due to work hours.

We have all known irresponsible people who do irresponsible things. Big whoop and so what.

 

That has nothing to do with how difficult it can be for responsible people to do responsible things. My dh and I have had problems voting due to work shifts. One of my sons is going to have to haul butt from work to vote today bc an irresponsible coworker means he will be working later than he expected. He left for work at 6am and doesn't get off until 6:30 and his polling station is nearly 30 minutes from his work. He could not have done anything to prevent this and his boss won't let him off early bc there won't be someone to finish the shift.

 

The thing is, responsible hard working people tend to be "just keep swimming" types and they don't show up on the radar of complaints and such like jerks who call sick for a ball game - bc responsible hard working people are too busy working to sue their boss for not letting them off work or whatever. Laws don't mean squat unless you have the ability to take someone to court to enforce it. And many low income and even middle income do not have that voice. Or feel they don't, whether it's accurate emotion or not.

 

For my part, I think we should have:

- mandatory voting with a "no confidence/none of the above" on every ballot.

- it should be a national holiday so that more places are closed.

- polls should be open for a 24 hour period

- as long as they are voting in their precinct, they should be able to vote at any station within it.

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I never hear such outrage about people waiting in line for the bathroom at the football game, or to get into the amusement park, or on Black Friday.  Or in security at the airport.  People might grumble, but they don't say "I'm not going because lines."  People go in knowing they will stand in lines.  It's important to them so they do it.

 

If the lines are several hours long, that's a problem, but I (with my white face - and my two tots - after work hours) have happily stood in voting lines for roughly an hour before.  IMO it's part of the excitement of everyone doing something together as a nation.

 

Again - I'm glad they have added several other options in my state.

Edited by SKL
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Funny thing, I know low-wage people who will take off work (or refuse certain days/hours) to watch a ball game they care about. But I don't know any who had a problem voting due to work hours.

I find your post really distasteful. And I am really happy that you personally don't know anyone who ever had a problem due to work hours. I'm sure you don't know anyone who ever experienced racial discrimination either. But believe it or not, these things happen. We should make it as easy as possible for every person who wants to vote to vote.

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I never hear complaints about people waiting in line for the bathroom at the football game, or to get into the amusement park, or on Black Friday. Or in security at the airport. People might grumble, but they don't say "I'm not going because lines." People go in knowing they will stand in lines. It's important to them so they do it.

 

If the lines are several hours long, that's a problem, but I (with my white face) have happily stood in voting lines for roughly an hour before. IMO it's part of the excitement of everyone doing something together as a nation.

Maybe you need hearing aids then bc I hear complaints about all of those things all the time! And I know many many people who avoid those things bc of lines and similiar issues. (I know I'm not the only one who would think winning tickets to Disney would be like winning a ticket to an inner circle of hell. LOL )

 

As for waiting in line to vote, to be fair I never heard the complaint as about the voting per se. Usually we all chit chat about how awesome it is to see everyone voting. But yes, I most certainly heard and seen people leave the line because they just could not wait any longer. I would have had a difficult time waiting in the rain to vote with a breastfeeding newborn in tow if it wasn't for my dh being able to go with me.

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Most likely because historically there is a low turnout in some districts. It makes sense to take past turnout into account when deciding how many workers / booths to provide.

Wth. No. It doesn't. They should go by the number of registered voters if they go by anything, and they should work to provide a situation that RAISES voter turnout, not purposely keep it low or make it lower.

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I never hear complaints about people waiting in line for the bathroom at the football game, or to get into the amusement park, or on Black Friday.  Or in security at the airport.  People might grumble, but they don't say "I'm not going because lines."  People go in knowing they will stand in lines.  It's important to them so they do it.

 

If the lines are several hours long, that's a problem, but I (with my white face - and my two tots - after work hours) have happily stood in voting lines for roughly an hour before.  IMO it's part of the excitement of everyone doing something together as a nation.

 

 

I would not wait in line for an hour if I had my kids with me.  I don't need that kind of stress.  I would of course come back at another time during the day to see if the lines are shorter or will come back without my kids and wait an hour.  But many people do not have that luxury. 

 

And I'm sure the same people who can not afford to miss work by standing in line for an hour to wait to vote aren't regularly going to football games, amusement parks, or shopping on black friday(well unless they go in the middle of the night when they likely aren't working anyway.)

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You cannot vote absentee here for "not having a car". The only 'planning' you can do is plan to be out-of-state today and vote absentee that way.

 

I didn't vote absentee "because of not having a car."  Someone implied that not having a car makes it impossible for people to vote absentee, and I was pointing out that I don't buy it.

 

I voted absentee because I knew in advance that I would be too far away from the polling place to go there and cast a ballot on the day.

 

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Whose tactic?  Someone intentionally creates fewer voting places?  The same ones have been around for decades here and some are busy and others just are not.

Florida has enormous lines today, for example. More people had voted by 9 a.m. than through the entire election last time. 

 

 

I know there are fewer voting places in Alabama this election. 

 

http://civilrightsdocs.info/pdf/reports/2016/poll-closure-report-web.pdf

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I voted at 2 pm and there was a sweet little old lady with a walker in front of me and she had the audacity to delay me by 5 minutes, lol.  I heard that ours was busy before work this morning and will be this evening, but the lines here move very fast.  We have a large number of stations.  They dlvided the books for searching who is registered into 5 stations to speed up the line.  I am privileged.  Travel 20 minutes into a less affluent neighborhood and there will be longer lines. 

 

We have early voting and many people found that to be convenient.  I did hear that there were longer lines last week.  I had meant to try early voting, but I still hadn't finished my research (local issues that are harder to find information.)  During the primary, such huge numbers had done early voting that, by the time our state voted, many of the candidates had dropped out. 

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I waited 90 minutes for the primary. Today, no line at all. We allow early voting, and over 1/3 registered voters took advantage of that and had already voted. DS wanted to go with me as he has been studying our local, state and national races in his social studies class at school. 

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They were actually in court this morning seeking to have some of those ballots challenged. 

 

"The Trump campaign filed the lawsuit Tuesday against Joe Gloria, the Clark County Registrar of Voters, accusing him of wrongly keeping four polling locations open late for early voting on Friday."

 

The judge declined to agree. 

 

http://www.theatlantic.com/liveblogs/2016/11/election-results-trump-clinton/505442/11096/?utm_source=atltw

 

 

 

"It also alleged that some people who were not in line when polls closed were able to vote. Nevada law allows people already waiting when the polls close to cast ballots."

 

This is from a CNBC article about this.

 

Staying open for folks in line is one thing (and important)...staying open to let more get in line after the polls have closed is another and not something either party should accept.

 

I expect they'll figure things out...

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