Commuting - Rode to the Polls on a gloomy November day and waited, and waited...

Over an hour and a half.

http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff216/tjspiel/photo-7.jpg

interesting.

i "voted" about 45 days ago by absentee ballot.

second time I've done that.

An hour and a half? Man that's crazy. Is it always like that? I think it took me 15 minutes to vote last time around.

I was the 101st to vote this morning, no waiting.

Of course here we have polling places everywhere. You can't swing the proverbial cat…

did they serve coffee to people waiting in line?

That's amazing - go voters!!

I voted 2 weeks ago on the way home from jury duty and right before a flu shot.

Mr. Civics

I was in and out in about 5 minutes, that sucks, around Rochester I've never had to wait behind more than 4-5 people to vote.

Oregon: ballot in the mail, filled out at home, then dropped off
in a rededicated mail box on the curb in front of the County offices..

so easy .. BUT as of yesterday undervote still at half.

Oregon: ballot in the mail, filled out at home, then dropped off
in a rededicated mail box on the curb in front of the County offices..

so easy .. BUT as of yesterday undervote still at half.

what does "undervote still at half" indicate?

God bless America. (If you don't believe in God then substitute your deity, object, rock, talisman, bike frame, etc. choice.)

It took me about 2 minutes to walk across the street, about 3 minutes to get the ballot, and was able to walk right up to the booth. I was surprised it was that easy, there were long lines in 2008 and I expected more today.

Minnesota usually leads the nation in voter turnout ( the last eight elections in a row), so it's not uncommon to wait awhile to vote, especially in the morning or after work. We don't have early voting, either.

Minnesota’s average eligible voter turnout in the past six elections – 67.6 percent – is 16.4 percentage points higher than the national average. So I'm looking forward to waiting for awhile this evening.

Oregon: ballot in the mail, filled out at home, then dropped off
in a rededicated mail box on the curb in front of the County offices..

so easy .. BUT as of yesterday undervote still at half.

Wow, same here!

Good for people for voting but dang, that line is out of control. You shouldn't have to wait that long!

I got to my polling place @ 7am and there were only 2 people in front of me.

did they serve coffee to people waiting in line?

No, but some kind soul went and bought some warm fresh donuts.


An hour and a half? Man that's crazy. Is it always like that? I think it took me 15 minutes to vote last time around.

I had to wait awhile in 2008 too but not that long and it was a much nicer day. ;-)

Another factor may be the marriage amendment that's on the ballot. Minneapolis has the 4th highest gay population of major US cities so that one hits pretty close to home for a lot of folks and their friends/families.

We have early voting here in NC so I took advantage of it a few weeks ago with no waiting. I have heard that the polls are pretty busy today, though.

-G

That looks like the queue outside a Soviet supermarket in the 1980s when there was a shortage of everything that wasn't an AK47. Hopefully, the supply of politicians will increase so there wont be such a shortage in the future.

My wife and I got to our polling place about 3 minutes after the doors opened at 7 am. There was 300 people in front of me, and my wife and I endured a 2+hour wait. finally we got to vote and left the poling place at 9:20am.

It is going to be close either way it goes.

My polling place had about a 30 minute line at 7:30 this morning. It wasn't that long in 2008. I'm expecting record voter turnouts this year.

That's nothing. In 2004 I stood in line for THREE HOURS at a local school to cast my vote. The line stretched back and forth throughout the gymnasium, out to the gym lobby, out the front door, all down the bus drop-off sidewalk. It was nuts.

I go to school out-of-state, so I voted by absentee ballot (and it was my first time)...but these lines I keep hearing about/seeing are intense!

Voted by mail here in WA. I had a nice shot of whiskey to sip on while I filled out the ballot.

A guy could get used to this. :D

Oregon: ballot in the mail, filled out at home, then dropped off
.....

I had my mail in ballot for early voting. I filled it out last week and my bf delivered both of ours to the town hall by bike.

Voted by mail here in WA. I had a nice shot of whiskey to sip on while I filled out the ballot.

A guy could get used to this. :D

I could definitely get used to that too, but even though I would never choose to spend an hour and a half waiting in line, there's something to be said for experiencing democracy first hand with people from your community.

As the line snaked along I saw a few neighbors, a woman who I've gone on group rides with, and some people whose kid my son used to go to school with. There was also plenty of conversation with the people right around me.

And of course with modern technology I was able to send that picture to people at work and my family, one of whom happened to be standing in line at that very moment in DC. Afterwards someone told me you're not supposed to use a cellphone at a polling place. Not sure why.

I think it would feel sort of anti-climactic to just mail it in.

Voted early ballot last week. In and out in less than 5 minutes. Parking lot was full this AM.

Where do you live in MPLS? I spent about 12 minutes at my polling place in Longfellow.

Where do you live in MPLS? I spent about 12 minutes at my polling place in Longfellow.

That line is outside of the Sibley Park rec center. I live just North of Lake Hiawatha (Standish Ericsson neighborhood).

Disturbing that there are such long lines which could discourage people from voting and could easily swing some close races if there aren't enough polling locations in areas that might favor a particular candidate.

Didn't have any issue at my polling place - there were 6 balloting booths available and only 2 were occupied.

Rode my bike to vote at 7:15 am this morning. Spent 1 hour in line. Then almost got hit by driver on my way home who didn't think he needed to clean the frost off his windows to see.

I did the mail in thing a couple of weeks ago. I think I'll continue to do it that way.

No line; one minute to verify my ID; one minute to fill out ballot; one minute to wait for wife. My ballot was 354th submitted at 11:30 this morning in our precinct.

I was 200-something for the S-T names. No idea what number overall at that location (no way to tell, really). When I got there about 2 pm the only line in the place was in S-T, and I had to wait like 10 minutes for maybe 4 people in front of me.

I also waited an hour and a half or so. There were several different precincts voting in one elementary school gymnasium. It was chaotic and no one knew where they should be. I'm not sure if it is always like this here--this is my first time voting in NYC, but I suspect the chaos had to do with the recent storm.

I got in line at 6:50.

I was #67 to vote.

I voted at 8:10.

There's something wrong when it takes that long to register a person. Many people left to go to work, and will they come back later??? Who knows. I was late for work, and that's not good for a teacher. I called ahead, then rode my bike the 8 miles to school. I got there just as the bell was about to ring and in my hurry I took the last turn too sharply and hit my pedal on the road. I spilled into the parking lot and got pretty bad road rash on my elbow. My students thought it was awesome.

Pretty eventful day.

I got in line at 6:50.

I was #67 to vote.

I voted at 8:10.

There's something wrong when it takes that long to register a person. Many people left to go to work, and will they come back later??? Who knows. I was late for work, and that's not good for a teacher. I called ahead, then rode my bike the 8 miles to school. I got there just as the bell was about to ring and in my hurry I took the last turn too sharply and hit my pedal on the road. I spilled into the parking lot and got pretty bad road rash on my elbow. My students thought it was awesome.

Pretty eventful day.

Seems like folks who can't afford to be late or take time off work are more likely than others to be affected by this. Hmm...

Seems like folks who can't afford to be late or take time off work are more likely than others to be affected by this. Hmm...


As always, the little guy gets hurt the most.

Third World.

wow, crazy lines. It took me about 20min - I was there when the polls opened and it took them a few minutes to get into the swing of getting everyone through.

Walked through the door at 12:22 walked out at 12:25, voter#685. If I had been in L-Z line I would have had to wait for a couple ahead of me.

Voted by mail here in WA. I had a nice shot of whiskey to sip on while I filled out the ballot.

A guy could get used to this. :D


I hope you remembered to show yourself your photo ID.

I got in line at 6:50.

I was #67 to vote.

I voted at 8:10.

There's something wrong when it takes that long to register a person. Many people left to go to work, and will they come back later??? Who knows. I was late for work, and that's not good for a teacher. I called ahead, then rode my bike the 8 miles to school. I got there just as the bell was about to ring and in my hurry I took the last turn too sharply and hit my pedal on the road. I spilled into the parking lot and got pretty bad road rash on my elbow. My students thought it was awesome.

Pretty eventful day.

Voting rules for Utah:"Employees who do not have 3 consecutive hours when not required to be at work during the hours polls are open are entitled to up to 2 paid hours leave to vote. The employee must request leave before Election Day. The employer can set the time for leave, but employee requests for leave at the beginning or end of work hours shall be granted."


As always, the little guy gets hurt the most.


Voting Rules for New York:"Employees who do not have 4 consecutive non-working hours between polls opening and closing, and who do not have "sufficient" non-working time to vote, are entitled to up to 2 hours paid leave to vote. Employees must request the leave between 2 and 10 days before Election Day. The employer can specify whether it be taken at beginning or end of shift. Employers must post this rule conspicuously 10 days prior to election."


I found all that on this site. http://www.findlaw.com/voting-rights-law.html

My district includes only about 80 homes. Even if everyone arrived at the same time, the line wouldn't be that long.

I hope you remembered to show yourself your photo ID.
I always card myself. :p

No ID and no booths... Just a bubble sheet and a scanner. In and out in 5 minutes.

I rode (as always), locked up, then got in line with 3 people in front of me about 10 minutes before they opened at 6am. The workers had to figure out how to print out the pass codes to get you access to the electronic booths, so it took a few minutes longer than it should have. I appreciate the people who work the polls, but I thought they would have went through a few trials or training or something ahead of time so they weren't figuring it out on the fly. Glad I got there early though, because by the time I left the line was already dozens deep.

Only took about 5-10 min at my place, but I would have waited longer -- I was otherwise home sick. ;)

Voting rules for Utah:"Employees who do not have 3 consecutive hours when not required to be at work during the hours polls are open are entitled to up to 2 paid hours leave to vote. The employee must request leave before Election Day. The employer can set the time for leave, but employee requests for leave at the beginning or end of work hours shall be granted."




Voting Rules for New York:"Employees who do not have 4 consecutive non-working hours between polls opening and closing, and who do not have "sufficient" non-working time to vote, are entitled to up to 2 hours paid leave to vote. Employees must request the leave between 2 and 10 days before Election Day. The employer can specify whether it be taken at beginning or end of shift. Employers must post this rule conspicuously 10 days prior to election."


I found all that on this site. http://www.findlaw.com/voting-rights-law.html

Ah, very sensible. :thumb:

I waited about 25 minutes at 5:30 last evening. My wife waited 40 minutes at 6AM. A friend who voted at lunchtime waited an hour and a half. All at the same polling station.

A good friend in Northern VA waited 4 hours.

I rode to the polls after work as well. Waited in line for about 10 minutes only to find out that our polling location had changed at the last minute. By this time it was 30 minutes until the polls closed so I had to ride somewhat quickly to the other location. It wasn't too far, though, only a few dozen blocks. Fortunately there wasn't a line at the new location so we were able to vote just in time.