How Long Waiting To Vote?

tristarenvy · Tue Nov 02, 2004 11:02 pm

How long did you have to wait to vote?

Got into line at 0640. Voted at 0805. One hour and twenty five minutes, in a polling place in Hillsborough County, Florida.

electraBob · Tue Nov 02, 2004 11:08 pm

Got in line at 640am here in Dearborn, MI.....voted at 730am....longest I've ever had to wait in line. I hate to think what the lines will be like tonight between 5p and 8p.

FlyVirgin744 · Tue Nov 02, 2004 11:20 pm

I pre-voted last Friday in Gainesville, Alachua County, Florida. Got in line 1:10pm, got my ballot at 2:15. So 1 hour 5 minutes.

air2gxs · Tue Nov 02, 2004 11:20 pm

Took me about 3 minutes, but I was able to early vote. Tarrant County, TX

prosa · Tue Nov 02, 2004 11:22 pm

I voted at 6:30 this morning in Medford, New York. There was no line at all and I was in and out in just a few minutes. My guess is that area turnout is likely to be low, as many people realize that their votes won't count - Kerry is 100% guaranteed to win New York's electoral votes, even though Medford itself is likely to support Bush. In addition, the Senate race is noncompetitive (Schumer has only token opposition), the incumbent Congressman Tim Bishop is heavily favored, and none of the local races have stirred up much interest (five out of the six county judge candidates are running on both the Democratic and Republican tickets).

sw733 · Tue Nov 02, 2004 11:26 pm

I did an absentee a few weeks back, so it only took me about 3 minutes Laugh out loud

dl757md · Tue Nov 02, 2004 11:32 pm

Got in line @ 6:05AM. Polls opened at 7:00. Was out of there by 7:35.

dtwclipper · Tue Nov 02, 2004 11:33 pm

Took about 10 min, at Northville Prec. 8. was voter no. 130 at 8am. That is a great turnout already.

We have a tight Congressional race between Thad. McCotter and Phil Truran for the 11th district.

racko · Tue Nov 02, 2004 11:37 pm

Why don't they just open more polling stations? It is ridiculous to have to wait over an hour just to vote? I mean, with all the potential problems that could occur, at least this one could have been avoided easily.

Usairwys757 · Tue Nov 02, 2004 11:38 pm

Got to the polls around 7:25, waited in line for about 35 minutes, then was out by 8:10.

LON-CHI · Tue Nov 02, 2004 11:40 pm

I had to wait about 20 minutes to vote this morning (6:45am). Of course being in Chicago, I was able to vote as many times as I wanted. Wink/being sarcastic

tristarenvy · Tue Nov 02, 2004 11:44 pm

Racko, there are a good number of places to vote, it's that the turn out is going to be pretty big for this election. Even the places here, in Florida, that allowed you to vote early were swamped, and that's unheard of.

No matter how the election goes, in regard to whom I voted for, I gotta say, this will probably be a record year for election participation.

Good line, LON! What's the old Chicago motto? "Vote Early, and Often"?

[Edited 2004-11-02 15:46:42]

flyingbronco05 · Tue Nov 02, 2004 11:55 pm

Voted in Kalamazoo, MI at 9:30.

Got in line at 9:15.

JetService · Wed Nov 03, 2004 12:00 am

Our polls in Indiana opened at 6am. Like NY, the Indiana electoral votes are pretty much a given (in this case, for Bush). But despite that, I had two reports from employees that were late that they'd never seen crowds like that that early. Both employees said while waiting in line they were chit-chatting and it seemed nearly everyone was Bush voters (GOP generally wins my county 75-25%). My wife is voting this morning and I'm going later this afternoon.

I have a few employees that live in Ohio. If they're Bush voters, I'm giving them the day off; The Kerry voters will have to cover for them Big grin

(j/k of course).

prosa · Wed Nov 03, 2004 12:09 am

Of course being in Chicago, I was able to vote as many times as I wanted.

Even if you were dead

ConcordeBoy · Wed Nov 03, 2004 12:11 am

went at 8:15am.... was able to go straight to a machine, out in 5min.

desertjets · Wed Nov 03, 2004 12:22 am

In @ 8:30 and went straight to the machine. One of the benefits of living in a small town.

Likewise living in New York state there isn't much on the ballot let alone contested elections. Like previously said Kerry is more or less a lock, and Chuck Schumer is essentially unopposed. My state assembly and state senate seats are unopposed. The opposition for my US House seat is somewhat unviable, though an interesting candidate with a platform that was compelling enough to get my vote. With the exception of a few state court seats that was the ballot. No local races, no referendums (don't even think that NYS allows that).

UnitedTristar · Wed Nov 03, 2004 12:23 am

Chicago northside got there 745...voted 905

-m

Big thumbs up

CaptOveur · Wed Nov 03, 2004 12:40 am

I early voted on Thursday, took about 20 minutes.

KROC · Wed Nov 03, 2004 12:53 am

I got there at 0600 and voted at 0615.

PHLBOS · Wed Nov 03, 2004 12:54 am

I arrived at my polling place around the usual 6:55 AM. I was 13th in line; in 2000 (same arrival time), I was 5th in line.

I left at around 7:10 - 7:15 AM; in past elections, I was usually done by 7:05.

As I was leaving, I did see about 20 people waiting in line.

Over here in Ridley Township (Delaware County), PA; we use the lever-type voting machine. While I was waiting in line and seeing other people go in the booths to vote; one can almost tell by the time spent in the booth who voted by party (one lever) or by individual candidates (several levers).

jaysit · Wed Nov 03, 2004 1:06 am

I win !

Got in line at 8:05 AM in Washington, DC. Got out at 10:20 AM.

Thats 2 hours and 15 minutes. I've never seen lines this long before.

dtwclipper · Wed Nov 03, 2004 1:09 am

Jaysit;

WOW, that is a looong time. Great example for the rest of us!!!

+++VOTE QUIMBY+++

LoneStarMike · Wed Nov 03, 2004 1:25 am

Here in Austin, TX, I cast my ballot October 21 during early voting. It took about ten minutes from the time I walked in to the time I walked out.

In my county (Travis County) we had a record 217,428 ballots cast during the early voting period or 37.19% of all registered voters. During 2000, only 23.9% early voted.

LoneStarMike

Falcon84 · Wed Nov 03, 2004 1:32 am

Got to the poll at 9am, left the polling station at 9:53am.

And it was worth it.

prosa · Wed Nov 03, 2004 1:33 am

Got in line at 8:05 AM in Washington, DC. Got out at 10:20 AM.
Thats 2 hours and 15 minutes. I've never seen lines this long before.

Amazing! Washington is probably the one place in the country where the election's outcome is more guaranteed than it is in New York. Yet people still turned out to vote.

mlsrar · Wed Nov 03, 2004 1:36 am

Got there at 0730, out the door at 0808...i even had to register as I had recently moved.

csavel · Wed Nov 03, 2004 1:43 am

Got there at 8:30 and was out at 9:15, and where I vote, it is usually *empty*, like I mean I never had a person in line in front of me ever, I used to feel like I was the only one doing something so "quaint!"

Part of it is that there are som many new voeters (lots you young 'uns) and they had to be initiated, so there was confusion, but it was great to see.

This is in Upper Manhattan, New York.

N202PA · Wed Nov 03, 2004 1:56 am

Got in the door at 8:50, was out on the road by 9:15. Couldn't have spent more than 5 minutes waiting to register, and another 10 in line (5 to vote). Surprisingly quick and painless. Oh, and I was voting in Vienna, VA.

CV990A · Wed Nov 03, 2004 2:03 am

In Alexandria, VA, I was in line at 630 and out at 745, so 1hr 15 min, and as the guy in line behind me said: 'I waited 4 years, so another few minutes won't kill me...'

clrd2go · Wed Nov 03, 2004 2:04 am

Got in line about 7:25 (through a huge line of traffic and jammed parking
lots). Had a long line to wait through (est 30-40 mins) but they called for
people with my initials as the check in station was vacant, so I stepped right up..was out of there by 7:45.

Jim

EA CO AS · Wed Nov 03, 2004 3:07 am

At my polling place in Scottsdale, Arizona I was in line at 7:20am and had ballot in-hand by 8:40am - 1 hour, 20 minutes total time in line.

JAXpax · Wed Nov 03, 2004 3:20 am

Waited 55 minutes this morning at Duval County, Florida Precinct 03F. Got there about 7:15am. Polls opened at 7am. By the time I left at 8:15, the line was wrapping around the building. It was a nice wait in sunshine and 80+ degree heat.

Tom in NO · Wed Nov 03, 2004 3:51 am

Was in line at 10:50 local time, voted around 12:20, total of a 90 minute wait in Kenner, LA.

Tom at MSY

Ryefly · Wed Nov 03, 2004 4:00 am

1 hour 10 minutes for me in Charlotte, NC. Got there at 10:30 am and voted by 11:40am just in time to get lunch. I am sure the time to wait will tripple at a more popular time.

VSlover · Wed Nov 03, 2004 4:18 am

hmm, i did absentee a month ago, so the state of colorado has had mine for a while.

took forever to fill out though since it was so long!

glad i'm not voting here in nyc, where the lines are just so long in many manhattan precints (the city bought 8000 used voting machines from georgia to supplement the machines already owned) according to the news people.

redngold · Wed Nov 03, 2004 4:20 am

About 15 minutes in Ward 19, Precinct Q in Cleveland, Ohio. I arrived at about 12:20 PM and there were five people aheard of me.

The people there were extremely careful - not only did I have to sign the book as usual, but they also wrote down my name and address, along with a ballot stub number, in a separate book. The stubs are removed as the ballots are placed in the box, so individual ballots still can't be traced back to the actual voter; but the number of stubs has to equal the number of ballots at the end of the day.

Here in Ohio they told people that if they arrive at the polling place before closing time, they will not be turned away. But if you're not in line by closing time, you lose.

By the looks of things, there's going to be record turnout for this election.

AsstChiefMark · Wed Nov 03, 2004 5:03 am

I've voted in my hometown in every election aince 1978. Each time I've been able to walk in, vote, and get out within 5 minutes. But not today! There was a line and it took about an hour to get to the voting booth.

Surprisingly, no one left the line and no one turned around to leave once they found out how long the wait was. One of the election clerks said she expected an 85% to 90% voter turnout.

Mark

mdsh00 · Wed Nov 03, 2004 5:27 am

I went in around 10:35 and voted around 10:45. West LA has many polling places, that and being in a college neighborhood voters will be coming in sporadically.

Why don't they just open more polling stations? It is ridiculous to have to wait over an hour just to vote? I mean, with all the potential problems that could occur, at least this one could have been avoided easily.

Racko,

A lot of that depends on local volunteers. But like everyone else has been saying, voter turnout has been exceptionally high so far and that is probably overwhelming the precincts.

fspilot747 · Wed Nov 03, 2004 5:30 am

Here on campus, waited about 10-15 minutes in line, was all done in about 30 minutes.

Not bad. went between classes.

FSP

ordflyer · Wed Nov 03, 2004 5:33 am

Just got back...no line at all however they said they expected to be pretty busy after 5pm today when people are getting off of work.

slider · Wed Nov 03, 2004 5:51 am

Harris County, TX (metro Houston, Kingwood)

5 minutes max wait.

I couldn't believe it. One of the poll workers said over 50% of the precinct had voted early. Wow. And no lawyers to be seen! Big grin

SlamClick · Wed Nov 03, 2004 5:52 am

Twenty five minutes, tops. Part of that spent talking to an old friend who was manager of the poll site. Very small rural precint in the "battleground" state of Nevada.

Voted in a church. Hey! Isn't that a violation of "separation of Church and State?"

Nearest electioneering was a Kerry pusher in the parking lot, apparently the legal minimum distance from the door. His car had California plates. For the first time I knew how the southerners felt with "outside agitators."

Mir · Wed Nov 03, 2004 6:05 am

A total of 1 hour and 8 minutes spent in line so far, and since I had to go somewhere, have not voted yet. This is in North Dakota. Argh. Angry

Will try again this evening. The polls stay open till 8, and I'll be there as long as needed.

ltbewr · Wed Nov 03, 2004 6:28 am

I vote in a small town in Northern New Jersey. We only had Presidential, County and Local elections and one town referenda item. Maybe 8 minutes total from the time entered the polling site to exit. 2 other people were in front of me to sign in to vote. It only took me 1 minute to vote itself. We use in many areas of New Jersey a machine where there are buttons under a plastic sheet with the canidates name adjacent to the button for that vote. They replaced the old lever type machines used for 40 years and had become unreliable and unservicable. I suspect that the lines will be much longer tonight as people leave work and until closing time at 8:00 pm. Usually Presidential elections bring out the highest number of voters, and when a governor's race second in popularity.
One problem I see with many polling locations it that each has to take care of too many voters. In my town with about 10000 population and about 5000 registered to vote, and this year about 80% turnout, each voting district has about 800 voters.

PJ295 · Wed Nov 03, 2004 6:43 am

In Dacula Ga (close to halfway between Atlanta and Athens) I arrived at my polling station around 10:30 and was out around 11:45. Absolutely worth the wait!!!!!

srbmod · Wed Nov 03, 2004 8:25 am

20 minutes, it probably would have been 10 if all of the poll workers weren't some slow old people (these folks have been working to polls for years, I've been voting in my current district since 1996, and my grandparents told me those people had been doing it for years then.), and the handful of idiots that ended up either being at the wrong precinct, or not even registered in our county, or had moved into the precinct from within the county, but had yet to change their registration to reflect the new address. What's funny is that the A-L line is always the longest, while most of the time, the worker in the M-Z line sat there or had maybe 2 people in their line. The loneliest poll worker at my precinct back during the primaries (Presidental and General Election primary) was the people who was handling the Republican primary voters, kinda like the Maytag Repairman.

Mir · Wed Nov 03, 2004 2:27 pm

I win !

Got in line at 8:05 AM in Washington, DC. Got out at 10:20 AM.

Thats 2 hours and 15 minutes. I've never seen lines this long before.

Not so fast there, cowboy....

Yours truly has just spent 4 hours and 18 minutes in line to vote. Add the hour and eight minutes from my failed attempt before, plus the two minutes it took me to vote, and I ended up spending a lovely 5 hours and 28 minutes doing my civic duty.

Beat that. Big grin

deltairlines · Wed Nov 03, 2004 2:47 pm

In and out in Winston-Salem, NC. No more a minute wait in line, 3-4 people in front of me. However, I heard it was pretty bad this morning (90 minutes)...I just decided to go midday, so no traffic.

Jeff

nonrevman · Wed Nov 03, 2004 3:00 pm

No wait at all here in Ft. Worth at a small school in my neighborhood. We had a total of 6 booths for voting. I went in at about 4PM.

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