how long did you wait in line to vote?

[Ottakee]

Just wondering how long the lines were in other places.

[amyable]

no time at all, at about 9:30

[Ottakee]

I was very impressed today. Last time I waited almost 2 hours to vote in a presidential election. Today I was in and out of there in about 10 minutes--from start to finish. They were basically waiting to help me every step of the way.

 

Our news though is showing larger communties around us where the wait is 2-3 hours.

[Quiver0f10]

We got there at 6:50 thinking they opened at 7, but they didn't open till 7:30 :banghead: There were @ 10 people waiting already so I guess it was good that I goofed on the time. Once the doors opened it was @ 15-20 minutes until we got to vote.

[Melissa B]

This was my first time voting in a rural area. We have 5 precincts for the county. I walked right in.

I voted electronically in the last two elections and before that with those chits that you punch. When they handed me a ballot and an ink pen I was at a loss. I actually didn't know anyone voted (on election day) using a pen and paper. I guess it is like an absentee ballot.

 

I'm sure everyone was laughing as I left. But everyone was very nice and helpful. They gave the kids candy while they were waiting. I was the 235th voter at 11:30.

[Parabola]

I've always lived in rural areas in prior elections, the only option available was paper ballots.

Here in the city this year, we could choose between paper or electronic voting. There was ONE electronic voting machine, and probably a dozen voting stations for paper.

 

There was absolutely no lines where I voted at all. There was one other person voting the same time I was. I ran in and out in less then 5 minutes probably. That was about 9:30 am. There were long lines last night for early voters. They should've just waited 12 hours and voted today.

[sleepy]

I went in a little after 10:00 this morning, waited about 5 or 10 minutes. There's something to be said for living in the boonies. :tongue_smilie:

[Hoggirl]

I did go around 10:00 and the poll people said the lines were much longer first thing. I am sure that will be true during the lunch hour as well.

 

I love the sense of "equalization" that comes from voting...is that silly?

[hmschoolmom22]

I walked right in - waited maybe 2 minutes...this was around 10am.

[melissel]

Three minutes, maybe. Not even long enough to finish my conversation with the very nice (and chatty) men in front of and behind me. DH voted around 8:45 and said he waited a few minutes too, but the workers told him that at 6 a.m., the line snaked out the door and wrapped around the building :scared:

[Tracy in Ky]

I didn't have to wait at all.

[Remudamom]

About 30 seconds. There WAS a line, but when everyone saw me crawling out of my pickup with my shotgun they all remembered previous engagements.

[Unicorn.]

I walked in, signed in, voted, and walked out. No line at all at about 10:45 this morning.

[Guest Katia]

Got out of my car at the polling place at 9:07am, stood in line, checked in, voted (with pen and paper I might add) and pulled out of the parking lot at 9:17am.

 

Total time to vote in rural Iowa: 10 minutes start to finish

[Jenny in Atl]

Took me just under two hours three weeks ago. Took dh just under an hour this morning. :glare: I should have waited. :lol:

[BarbaraL in OK]

My husband and I (with our kids) got to the polling place about 9:10 am, and spent a quick 35 minutes in line. Much better than the 2-3 hours friends & the local newspaper reported for the early voting Fri, Sat, Mon! We have the optical scanners, pretty quick and easy to use. I was #270 at our polling place at 9:50 am.

[Perry]

There was no line. I have never had to wait in line while I've lived in Iowa. The only time I've ever waited was when I lived in Wisconsin, and voted in the primaries in 1991 or '92, when we had to wait for about 2 hours.

[Sandy in Indy]

No line at all...unless you count standing behind my daughter while she got her ballot. Turnout is much higher than usual in our precint, too!

[hsmamainva]

Didn't take that long here!!! (We're in a rural area also)

 

All told it took about 15-20 minutes. We got there around 9 and we were out by 9:30.

 

But it was a great turnout, from what I could see!! When we voted in the primaries, we were one of five people there...and the only ones under 70. ;)

[OhM]

There are two precincts that vote in the same community center in our village: the village proper (where I live) and the surrounding township.

 

They are typically separated, so I get to walk by the door with the long lines and walk right into the village precinct, vote, and walk right back out. The longest line I've seen in the past 13 years had two people in front of me.

 

This year, with the new electronic machines, they were able to share the machines between the two precincts!!!! I still got to walk right up to the village check in table and bypass the 30-person township line. But then I had to wait in an 8 person line for the voting machine!!!! Oh, the horror!

[lynn]

At my voting place. They broke out the lines according to the alphabet. The M's had their own line:001_huh:. When I got in the main area there was no one in line for W:001_smile:. 4 lines for signature which moved fast then it was grab your ballot and go. I was in and out in about 30 min. Went to starbucks to get my coffee. I also received a coupon for a free large coke at chikfilet.

[abbeyej]

No waiting at all. 15 minutes from the time I left my driveway till I got back! (Dh waited an hour and a half to do advance voting last week!) Oh, this was at 2pm.

[Spy Car]

We had virtually no wait here.

[partyof5]

No waiting for us, except I had to keep shushing dd4 so she would stop calling out candidates' names & declaring who SHE was voting for!! :lol: My biggest fear was that one of them would strike up a political chat with someone because it's such an open and friendly room we vote in and I know a lot of the volunteers from growing up here.

 

We are a paper & pen town so a lot of folks just sit at the big tables in the middle of the room with no privacy, though booths are available.

 

They had cafeteria tables asseembled to help line people up for tonight's after 5 crowd, which dh will be a part of. Perhaps there will be some waiting then.

[Elm in NJ]

Took a total of 15 minutes- from the time I left my house, to the time I got back. I spent most of the time talking to a couple of people I knew, and it takes about 2 minutes to get to the school from my house.

[Amber in SJ]

No waiting at all here in the middle of urban San Jose at 9:37 am. And here in the Silicon Valley, center of all things high-tech, I voted with paper & pen & dropped it in the box. :D

 

DH voted by mail because he is out of town today, but he said the lines were very long at 7am in San Diego where he is working.

 

The poll worker reminded us to get our free Starbuck's coffee & our free Ben & Jerry's ice cream.

 

Amber in SJ

[momofkhm]

I waited for less than 45 minutes. But most of that was waiting for the polls to actually open. Once the polls were open, I was back in my car headed home in under 15 minutes.

[Sahamamama]

... but the double-wide stroller wouldn't fit through the door (I didn't think it would, just thought I'd go and check).

 

A couple of VERY NICE election officials volunteered to watch the twins in the stroller outside while my oldest and I went in to vote. My daughter (almost 4 years old) was SO EXCITED, she just chattered on and on about "democracy" and "elections" and "Presidents" the whole time. She happily informed EVERYONE that some countries in Africa (why she picked that I'll never know) have elections, but some countries in Africa choose leaders according to who has the most guns. She told EVERYONE the name of the person I was voting for, told EVERYONE that we had prayed for all the candidates this morning at breakfast, and told EVERYONE that she was going to get to push The Red Button.

 

She was a hit. The poll people were rolling with laughter. :lol:

 

One woman asked, "Little girl, how did you get to be so smart?"

 

And Motor Mouth glibly replied, "Oh, God just made me that way.... AND (dramatically) Mommy HOMESCHOOLS me!"

 

Thank God there is a curtain on that booth, especially since there were no CRACKS in the firehouse floor big enough to crawl into. Well, we voted. When we left the fire station, they cheered and told my daughter they can't wait to see her back there next year. It's FUN to VOTE! :patriot:

[Just Me]

I walked in, checked in, got my ballot with no wait at all. It probably took me longer to actually fill out the ballet than it took me to get it! All in all, no wait and about 4 minutes total!

 

That was at 11:15 this morning.

 

I then left and got my free Chick-fil-A Sandwich!! Yum!

[Sahamamama]

The poll worker reminded us to get our free Starbuck's coffee & our free Ben & Jerry's ice cream.

 

Amber in SJ

 

I am so jealous. I want to move to CA so I can get the free coffee and ice cream. Darn.

[Sahamamama]

I then left and got my free Chick-fil-A Sandwich!! Yum!

 

Oh, man, I must be living in the wrong part of the country. We just vote, no free stuff. Darn.

[Kay in Cal]

No wait here in this area of Los Angeles either... there were 10 booths or so and there were several empty as we came in. We always fill out our practice ballot in advance so we're fast--only a few minutes to mark our choices, check them again, and move out. I just read this week that LA is the largest voting district in the nation. Our precinct doesn't have machines, just paper ballots (you use a little ink dot pen thing) that are optically scanned. I actually think it is much faster. They must be doing something right to make it go so quickly.

 

An older woman working the polls took a few minutes and walked my boys through voting at the "practice" station as we voted--the pretend ballot has Lincoln and Eisenhower, among others. The kids had fun, and loved getting stickers!

Edited November 4, 2008 by Kay in Cal

[Michelle T]

No wait here in this area of Los Angeles either... I just read this week that LA is the largest voting district in the nation. We must be doing something right to make it go so smoothly?

 

Our precinct doesn't have machines, just paper ballots (you use a little ink dot pen thing). I actually think it is much faster.

 

 

Up here in Santa Clarita, I just walked right in, no wait. DH voted about an hour later, also no wait.

 

I had DS put his hand over mine while we used the little ink dot, so he could say he had voted in this historic election.

Michelle T

[Spy Car]

My county has a population of about 10,000,000.

 

We had paper ballots (thank goodness) and no wait.

 

Why so much chaos elsewhere?

 

Bill

[sweetfeet]

I went at 6:40am and was out around 8am.

[lovemyboys]

We got there at 6:50 thinking they opened at 7, but they didn't open till 7:30 :banghead: There were @ 10 people waiting already so I guess it was good that I goofed on the time. Once the doors opened it was @ 15-20 minutes until we got to vote.

 

 

We got there about 5:50 A M (!) for polls opening at 6. We were done and home from Starbucks even ;) by 7:15.

 

I looked at this poll just now, I'm one of only 5 or 6 that took an hour! Wow. Most of you took less than 15 min. I was afraid to wait til later in the day because the predictions were for heavy turnout and horrendous waits. I'd say they were pretty prepared for all of us.

 

I'm tempted to drive by now to see if there are lines!

[Doran]

Apparently, I timed it well -- the polling workers said it had been very busy an hour earlier.

[stripe]

I was about an hour standing in line to get into the voting room, and then about 15 minutes until I was done. Paper ballot. People with last names in the other half of the alphabet went faster.

 

Voting was faster this year than it was 4 years ago!

[klmama]

No wait at all when I went at 1:30. Dh went at 10:00 and waited 15 minutes. In our area the lines are usually long the first hour or two after the polls open and for the last two hours before they close. Dh waited almost 2 hours during the last presidential election when he got there at 6:00.

[Jennifer in MI]

No wait here either. But, my city is very small. There was a wait earlier today, but no longer than 15 - 20 minutes.

[Vanna]

Paper ballots and thankfully not much of a wait. We were done start to finish in about 15min. Best-buddy in PA didn't have it so good. She called me this afternoon while online for an anticipated 1 1/2hr wait!:tongue_smilie:

[1bassoon]

No wait at all. I find it interesting that the poll here shows most people didn't wait, and yet the news are all about, "Voters face long lines."

 

Hmm. . . . .

[Rich with Kids]

Voted early. No waiting.

[PinkInTheBlue]

I voted about 20 min ago (2:45pm) and walked straight in, straight through and voted. In and out with absolutely no wait. That turned out beautifully because due to Tony having a dr's appt and Easton napping, a wait would have meant I would have turned around and came back home and no voting today. Yeah

 

P.S. if it matters, we were a paper ballot

[beansprouts]

I went this morning. There was no line.

[mcconnellboys]

I walked straight in, signed my name, got my number, and walked into my booth.

[Caroline]

No line at 3:10 this afternoon. I know a lot of people who waited in long lines last week.

[Cinder]

I voted 15-30 but it was right at 15 mins. A man coming out as I was going in was surprised the line had gotten so short. He said he waited 45 mins. On my way out there was no line. This was at 9 am. And the weather was gorgeous--sunny and cool but not cold.

 

Dh voted during the early voting and waited over an hour!

 

Cinder

[HomeOnTheRanch]

No wait, paper & pen ballot.

[Mekanamom]

About 2:00, no wait. Then we went to Starbucks and I got suckered into trying a peppermint mocha twist instead of the free drip coffee... lol...

 

There were TONS of polling places all over town and quite a few cars in front of each one that we passed. Pretty steady stream of voters between 2:00-3:00, but no crazy lines.

 

We had paper and pen ballots as well.