NationStates Jolt Archive

So, for those of you who didn't vote early/absentee how long did you have to wait in line to do it? It took my wife and I an hour and a half and we got there about a half hour after the polls opened.

As long as it took the ballot to get mailed in to the county auditor's office. Mail-in only here in Spokane County.

Couple of minutes, but they only have to voting machines here at my polling place. Oddly the twit using the other one took longer than me and the woman before me to vote. Not sure what her issue was.

Voted early in NC last week. ~40 polling stations plus a table for our scannable paper ballots. When I went in midday on a Friday, there were about a dozen voters at this relatively rural precinct.

When I drove past my regular polling station this morning, there were no lines outside. It's lightly raining in North Carolina today, and I'm hoping that won't depress turnout much.

Couple of minutes, but they only have to voting machines here at my polling place. Oddly the twit using the other one took longer than me and the woman before me to vote. Not sure what her issue was.

Probably didn't do straight ticket and was unsure about state and local offices. I've seen people take forever agonizing over who to vote for university boards and such.

... Not sure what her issue was.

The overwhelming number of candidates to choose from, of course!

I voted 15 minutes or less on the Poll. The Polls opened at 7:00 AM Florida time. We were the first in line with our two Lobo Dogs I & II by 5:30 AM. We all voted proudly for President John McCain and Vice President Sarah Palin.

My Dogs Lobo s" who passed away years ago voted Proudly for President John McCain and Vice President Sarah Palin, lol. Rest in peace and thanks for your votes my loyal friends.

My second Lobo was a large boned pure bred Gernan Sheppard as well as my first Lobo. A police officer friend of mine in Miami who worked with police dogs directly imported from Germany got one for me. Lobo-Wolf.

After Lobo II passed away I burried him in the back yard and marked his grave. I cried many times near his grave. I dreamed my wife dug him out of his grave. Lobo came out nice and healthy running around the yard wagging his tail happy to see us all. After the dream I removed the marker. I still honor their memory as part of my e-mail. I decided not to have anymore dogs, is too painful when you have to let them go. Rest in peace my loyal friends.

About fifteen minutes. I had to argue with the poll workers, because they wanted to make me vote provisional, but I won out in the end.

About fifteen minutes. I had to argue with the poll workers, because they wanted to make me vote provisional, but I won out in the end.

Why did they want to make you vote provisional?

18 years

18 years

lol :D



Took me 15 minutes and I opted to use the touch screen over the paper ballot where you complete an arrow with a black Sharpie. It is going to be a warm 70F day here in Chicago and while I don't have a ticket, I may watch the festivities in Grant Park from a high rise overlooking them.

In Canada, it took me about 3 minutes between walking into the polling station and walking out. I get the impression that this is normal (though on the fast end of normal) for Canada, but it takes a lot longer in the USA.

Husband had to wait in line for an hour and a half. I had to wait like 25 minutes, and then took an additional 10 minutes to vote because I was showing my kids how to fill out the ballot and how to put the papers into the feeders.

Assholes made me vote provisional because I don't have a form of ID.

In Canada, it took me about 3 minutes between walking into the polling station and walking out. I get the impression that this is normal (though on the fast end of normal) for Canada, but it takes a lot longer in the USA.

It depends on where you live. I've talked to some friend back home today and none of them waited longer than 15 minutes and that's because the poll workers were old and slow.

... and then took an additional 10 minutes to vote because I was showing my kids how to fill out the ballot and how to put the papers into the feeders.

So now they have a ballot paper with all the boxes neatly filled in with a variety of colors, some stick figures added to liven things up, and folded into a paper airplane? :D

So now they have a ballot paper with all the boxes neatly filled in with a variety of colors, some stick figures added to liven things up, and folded into a paper airplane? :D

Not actually. They did have ballots for the kids and a cardboard box for their "pretend" votes. We kept ours though, scrapbooks and such. 5 year old voted straight democrat......7 year old took her marker and wrote in big block letters on the ballot PUT AN END TO TWO PARTY TYRANNY

cute right?

Why did they want to make you vote provisional?

Because I've moved recently, so the address on my license is not the same as my current registered address. In Ohio, though, if you use your drivers license, you don't need its address on it to be accurate. I argued with them about it.

About five minutes. I went early, so not a lot of people were there.

In North Dakota last week, I had to fill out a voters' affidavit because I'm a transitory college student. I was still able to vote in less than five minutes.

I just got back from voting. In and out in less than two minutes.

Voted early in NC last week. ~40 polling stations plus a table for our scannable paper ballots. When I went in midday on a Friday, there were about a dozen voters at this relatively rural precinct.

When I drove past my regular polling station this morning, there were no lines outside. It's lightly raining in North Carolina today, and I'm hoping that won't depress turnout much.

It didn't my polling place was alive and well. It took me about 15 mins to a half an hour to vote.

I voted absentee.

There are going to be enormous lines this year.

They're predicting a 78% turnout in California. That's insane.

Voted early last week. Took a little over 2 hours from the time we got in line.

About twenty minutes. Since there isn't that option. I went with half an hour.

Nevada at least Clark County has plenty of voting machines and not a lot of lines. But this is when I early voted about two weeks ago.

15 minutes.

Would have been 10 but I socialized a little with the volunteers. I went late in the morning to miss the before work crowd, which I was told was considerable for the neighborhood. Some of the volunteers were looking a little shell-shocked (one commented that "this is the worst in all these years"), but still processing people through with their usual aplomb and professionalism. They've been doing this for decades. It was very crowded, but moving along quite swiftly. Lots of kids were there with their parents. People did not take long with their ballots, but this was probably because the only real issues were the presidential choice and the ballot questions. Except for John Kerry's seat, all the down ballot candidates were running unopposed.

EDIT: In fact, the only vaguely down note of the whole thing was that, on the way out of my house, I picked up my mail and my summons for jury duty was in it. *grumble*

But on the upside, I get a free coffee at Starbucks today if I go in wearing my "I Voted" sticker.

But on the upside, I get a free coffee at Starbucks today if I go in wearing my "I Voted" sticker.

Which, I just read in an article, is a felony:eek2:



Mur you criminal you.

Got there at 7:20, was done and out of there by 8:10.

I havent voted yet. Due to class, I wont be able to vote until around 6.

But if the trend all day is long waits, I might ditch out of class early so I can vote, because Id be worried about the polls closing while I was waiting in line.


That would make me a sad panda.

And by sad, I mean angry.

I voted 15 minutes or less on the Poll. The Polls opened at 7:00 AM Florida time. We were the first in line with our two Lobo Dogs I & II by 5:30 AM. We all voted proudly for President John McCain and Vice President Sarah Palin.

My Dogs Lobo s" who passed away years ago voted Proudly for President John McCain and Vice President Sarah Palin, lol. Rest in peace and thanks for your votes my loyal friends.

My second Lobo was a large boned pure bred Gernan Sheppard as well as my first Lobo. A police officer friend of mine in Miami who worked with police dogs directly imported from Germany got one for me. Lobo-Wolf.

After Lobo II passed away I burried him in the back yard and marked his grave. I cried many times near his grave. I dreamed my wife dug him out of his grave. Lobo came out nice and healthy running around the yard wagging his tail happy to see us all. After the dream I removed the marker. I still honor their memory as part of my e-mail. I decided not to have anymore dogs, is too painful when you have to let them go. Rest in peace my loyal friends.

okaaaaaaayyy....

what's a Lobo?

15 minutes, but I voted early. I didn't read the OP before voting, though, so I thought the question was for everybody. :tongue:

I havent voted yet. Due to class, I wont be able to vote until around 6.

But if the trend all day is long waits, I might ditch out of class early so I can vote, because Id be worried about the polls closing while I was waiting in line.


That would make me a sad panda.

And by sad, I mean angry.

If you're in line before the polls close, they have to let you vote.

At least, that's how I understand it and I remember getting an email from the Obama campaign that said it.

Which, I just read in an article, is a felony:eek2:



Mur you criminal you.
Not me. I wouldn't be caught dead drinking that swill even if it was legal. :D

okaaaaaaayyy....

what's a Lobo?

A frakkin' bastich?

okaaaaaaayyy....

what's a Lobo?

Lobo-Wolf



Originally Posted by Miami Shores
I voted 15 minutes or less on the Poll. The Polls opened at 7:00 AM Florida time. We were the first in line with our two Lobo Dogs I & II by 5:30 AM. We all voted proudly for President John McCain and Vice President Sarah Palin.

My Dogs Lobo s" who passed away years ago voted Proudly for President John McCain and Vice President Sarah Palin, lol. Rest in peace and thanks for your votes my loyal friends.

My second Lobo was a large boned pure bred Gernan Sheppard as well as my first Lobo. A police officer friend of mine in Miami who worked with police dogs directly imported from Germany got one for me. Lobo-Wolf.

After Lobo II passed away I burried him in the back yard and marked his grave. I cried many times near his grave. I dreamed my wife dug him out of his grave. Lobo came out nice and healthy running around the yard wagging his tail happy to see us all. After the dream I removed the marker. I still honor their memory as part of my e-mail. I decided not to have anymore dogs, is too painful when you have to let them go. Rest in peace my loyal friends.

I voted absentee (since voting in person would involve a 6-hour plane ride), but I had problems.

See, my ballot didn't come. I contacted my county elections board, who sent me another ballot. It didn't come either.

Yesterday, I stopped by the mailroom. It turns out that when I moved dorms, they moved my mailbox WITHOUT TELLING ME. I immediately went down to my new mailbox, opened it, and got both ballots.

I voted with one and sent it in. The other I destroyed.

The actual process of deciding who to vote for and filling out my ballot took several hours (mostly because I spent several hours hanging out with my best friend). I voted for McCain for President (decided that ages ago), so what actually took time were the local offices. I deliberately voted a mix of Democrat and Republican, since I think it's important to have bipartisan government (I'm a registered GDI*).

I am really relieved that my ballot came in, and I got to vote in this historic election. I doubt I'll make much of a difference in the Presidential election (Washington almost always goes Democrat), but the gubernatorial election looks like it might be as close as last time (which came down to a few dozen votes).

*GDI - goddamned Independent*

As long as it took the ballot to get mailed in to the county auditor's office. Mail-in only here in Spokane County.

same here in Skagit County

*holds out arms*

That long.

Lobo-Wolf

well i guessed a type of dog, thanks... but i figured it might have been short for lobotomised, perhaps

shows how much i know about dogs >.>

It took me a total of zero seconds to vote. Yup.
:p

Didn't it take Obama 12 minutes to vote?

People are saying here that there are so many issues on some of these ballots, that to freaking vote on all the props etc, it takes a looong time. In Canada, we don't mix elections with referendum issues. Can someone give me some more info on this?

Didn't it take Obama 12 minutes to vote?

People are saying here that there are so many issues on some of these ballots, that to freaking vote on all the props etc, it takes a looong time. In Canada, we don't mix elections with referendum issues. Can someone give me some more info on this?

I posted a sample of my ballot in the predictions thread.

Didn't it take Obama 12 minutes to vote?
Aye, took him half an hour to call a taxi home, too.

30 seconds to vote. About 2 minutes to walk from my house to the polling place. So, just under 5 minutes, round trip?

aye, took him half an hour to call a taxi home, too.lol.

There were no lines, so maybe 15 minutes at most.

Fargo, North Dakota District 27; Precinct 2701 (http://www.dakotapolitics.com/District_27).

Had to vote at the West Acres mall. I ordered food from one of the restraunts in the food court, was in line around the noon hour rush. I literally waited longer to pick up my food than I waited to vote. The line was VERY long but honestly there were many booths set up and it went really quickly. I think I spent 3 minutes overall...standing in line and voting.

On the way out of the voting area, did anyone else have someone stop them and ask if you wanted to take a confidential survey for the national news? Had a guy with an AP ask me to fill out this simple questioneer which basically asked who I voted for nationally and locally, my race, religion, my political affiliation, if I thought I was liberal, moderate or conservative. One strange question on there asked if I was an evangelical or born-again christian (negative...agnostic for me).

The guy was really polite and from one of the local new affiliates....did any one else run into that?

Assuming this is of the USA elections, I could hardly vote in that since I'm not a citizen. :P

But in the last vote (about a week and a half ago) in my country it took me all of a half a second to get to vote, since I was one of the officials in the same "precint" that I vote in. Just picked a time without other 'customers' and did the deed. :D

There were no lines at my polling place, so I was in and out in less than five minutes.

What I hate are those people who stand outside the polling place asking you if you'd vote for their candidate.

I voted when it was lunchtime, and all the working folks were away. Asking the day off on election day pays off, I assure you.

15 minutes.

Would have been 10 but I socialized a little with the volunteers.
YOU ENCOURAGED SOCIALISM?! :eek:

Less than 10 minutes.

Less than 10 minutes.

And you voted for McCain, didn't you? :(

Got up at 5:30, got to the polling place by 5:55, waited about five minutes outside with about 150 people, got inside and waited about ten minutes to vote, walked home, got my car, and drove to work.

In my district, my number was.... 007.

;) Hammurab may have been more correct about my other life than he thought....

Neesika, in my local election we also had to vote for senator, supreme court justices, and on a question about veteran's benefits...

And you voted for McCain, didn't you? :(

Maybe, maybe not.

YOU ENCOURAGED SOCIALISM?! :eek:
Well, since I decided against the bribe coffees and ice cream, I had to do SOMETHING to undermine the nation, didn't I?

Last time I voted in Germany it took me 3 minutes to walk to the place, about 1 minute to declare who I was and receive my ballot papers, maybe another minute and make my cross(es), 1 minute for some small-talk with the people who gave me the ballot paper, and 3 minutes to walk home.

As for the elections in the U.S. - I'm not eligible to vote.

Maybe, maybe not.

Right then... Thats a Yes for Fox News, a No for the rest of teh ebil liberal media[/journalist]

Right then... Thats a Yes for Fox News, a No for the rest of teh ebil liberal media[/journalist]

Fox news is good for a laugh, not so good for actually watching news.

It took me ten minutes, wouldn't have been that long but one person in front of me couldn't figure out how to push a button properly.

Well, since I decided against the bribe coffees and ice cream, I had to do SOMETHING to undermine the nation, didn't I?
:hail:

You are truly a bearer-standard for us all.

election day is tomorrow....


facepalm

My polling place had more officials than voters when I went in. I was in and out in less than 15 minutes. I suspect it's because most people either voted early or mailed their votes in.

A frakkin' bastich?
LOL!

I'm glad I wasn't the only DC fan here.

It took me about an hour. Usually, I don't have to wait, but the lines were bad this time.

I live in a tiny little rural area, so there was no wait. However, this was the first time I've seen more than one or two other people voting at the same time; there were at least seven or eight voters while I was there, which is kinda the rural equivalent of an impressively long line. :)

There was exactly one person in line ahead of my. NY has two overly complicated propositions, so I spent more time in the voting booth than waiting in line.

No wait. I went to my polling place around 11:15 (lunch break from the seminar from hell) and four of the six available booths were open.

They also didn't ask to see my I.D., which made me very nervous. :(

Took me about 45 minutes, I got to my polling place at 7:30ish this morning to find 30-50 people already in line. Took less time than I anticipated, and it was heartening really to see an active turnout.

Time? Didn't pay attention but the whole process was probably 10 minutes.

Probably didn't do straight ticket and was unsure about state and local offices. I've seen people take forever agonizing over who to vote for university boards and such.

Didn't it take Obama 12 minutes to vote?

People are saying here that there are so many issues on some of these ballots, that to freaking vote on all the props etc, it takes a looong time. In Canada, we don't mix elections with referendum issues. Can someone give me some more info on this?

Sure.

First on the ballot were three propositions:

The first would open high-occupancy vehicle lanes to all traffic during specified hours, require traffic light synchronization, increase roadside assistance funding, and dedicate certain taxes, fines, tolls and other revenues to traffic-flow purposes.

The second would permit terminally ill, competent, adult Washington residents, who are medically predicted to have six months or less to live, to request and self-administer lethal medication prescribed by a physician.

The last one would require long-term care workers to be certified as home care aides based on an examination, with exceptions; increase training and criminal background check requirements; and establish disciplinary standards and procedures.

Then there were about 7 amendments for my County's charter, one for my city and one for the public transit system. Then we had the governor and rep elections as well as the loads of offices and non-partisan (i.e. confusing) offices and, of course, the big one.

Voted early last week and still waited an hour. Stupid Florida elections.

I voted right after I got off work this morning, it took me about thirty minutes, most of that waiting in line.

Funny thing though, the church where I voted actually serves as polling place for two precints. Only our precint had a line at all.

People were fawning over my little dudes, understandably, so it took just a little bit longer than we anticipated. We went in fairly late.
Well, there was fawning and some hearty formula consumption, to be sure. I brought one of the little dudes to one of the booths to show him, hopefully, what will be there when he's old enough to carry on his privilege. A pen with a spoon attached to it, and some semi-meaningless scribble etched into the metal mini-table used for backing when filling in the little spheroids, to be ignored or not, on the ballot.

i was lucky. i live in a relatively small precinct, and went, as i always do, early in the day.

we're also all scantron ballots, no vote flipping touch screens, no hanging chad.

Got up at 5:30, got to the polling place by 5:55, waited about five minutes outside with about 150 people, got inside and waited about ten minutes to vote, walked home, got my car, and drove to work.

In my district, my number was.... 007.


Did they give you a license to kill? Or at least a cool exploding pen?

Did they give you a license to kill?Up here in AK, a vote for Palin can result in that.
Or at least a cool exploding pen?Eh, i've had plenty of those after leaving 'em in my pocket protector too long on hot days.

The software for the voting machines needs improvement in its graphical depictions. First off, I would use a green check instead of a red X. Second, whats up with the flashing screen. It would be more aesthetic to change the color of the screen once an option has been chosen. But that would be my own personal preference.

Didn't it take Obama 12 minutes to vote?

People are saying here that there are so many issues on some of these ballots, that to freaking vote on all the props etc, it takes a looong time. In Canada, we don't mix elections with referendum issues. Can someone give me some more info on this?

We only had two propositions here in Michigan - medical marijuana and legalizing stem cell research. The first passed, the second... passed! (took me some google-fu for that one)

And yes, the line at the redwulf and my polling place was long. And my one-third of a working leg was Not Happy with the standing up for most of it.

I voted early the day after it started in Illinois so it took me only the time to make my selections on the machine.