this post was submitted on 05 Nov 2024
89 points (93.2% liked)

Ask Lemmy

27240 readers
2940 users here now

A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions


Rules: (interactive)


1) Be nice and; have funDoxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, and toxicity are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them


2) All posts must end with a '?'This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?


3) No spamPlease do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.


4) NSFW is okay, within reasonJust remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either !asklemmyafterdark@lemmy.world or !asklemmynsfw@lemmynsfw.com. NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].


5) This is not a support community.
It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions. If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email info@lemmy.world. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.


6) No US Politics.
Please don't post about current US Politics. If you need to do this, try !politicaldiscussion@lemmy.world or !askusa@discuss.online


Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.

Partnered Communities:

Tech Support

No Stupid Questions

You Should Know

Reddit

Jokes

Ask Ouija


Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu


founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

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.

(page 2) 45 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] Quik@infosec.pub 3 points 1 month ago

<5min Germany

[–] eksb@programming.dev 3 points 1 month ago

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.

[–] anon6789@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago

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.

[–] NotSteve_@lemmy.ca 3 points 1 month ago

~10min in Canada

[–] paddirn@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago

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.

[–] 0ops@lemm.ee 3 points 1 month 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 1 month ago

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

[–] kurcatovium@lemm.ee 3 points 1 month ago (2 children)

The longest for me was about 30 seconds. Coincidentally about as much as sex.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] thisisdee@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

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.

[–] khannie@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)
[–] thisisdee@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I’ve actually never gotten sausage after voting 😬

[–] khannie@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago

Shambles. :)

[–] spittingimage@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago

About an hour. New Zealand. Things weren't well-organised that day.

[–] nichtburningturtle@feddit.org 3 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

No more than 5 minutes.

[–] Tarogar@feddit.org 3 points 1 month ago

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.

[–] Roflmasterbigpimp@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago

5 - 10 min. Germany

[–] shinigamiookamiryuu@lemm.ee 3 points 1 month ago

At most maybe half an hour. People here are quick about that.

Now getting there is another matter.

[–] Omega_Jimes@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 month ago

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

[–] yamanii@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago

Brazil, 5 minutes

[–] neidu3@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

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.

[–] NeoNachtwaechter@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago

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.

[–] blackn1ght@feddit.uk 2 points 1 month ago

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

[–] whome@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 1 month ago

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

[–] RizzRustbolt@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago

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.

[–] weew@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 month ago

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.

[–] RebekahWSD@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago

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

[–] Kolanaki@yiffit.net 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

I've had vote by mail my entire life (well, of voting age anyway). So 0.

[–] DasFaultier@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 month ago

30 Minutes in Germany

[–] Kazumara@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 1 month ago

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.

[–] ShittyBeatlesFCPres@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago

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.)

[–] kalkulat@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

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!

[–] ahornsirup@feddit.org 1 points 1 month ago

Germany, zero minutes. Postal voting ftw!

load more comments
view more: ‹ prev next ›