Welcome Guest [Log In] [Register]
We hope you enjoy your visit.


You're currently viewing our forum as a guest. This means you are limited to certain areas of the board and there are some features you can't use. If you join our community, you'll be able to access member-only sections, and use many member-only features such as customizing your profile, sending personal messages, and voting in polls. Registration is simple, fast, and completely free.


Join our community!


If you're already a member please log in to your account to access all of our features:

Username:   Password:
Add Reply
Voting Queues
Topic Started: Nov 1 2008, 12:44 PM (274 Views)
ds9074
Member Avatar
Admiral
We are seeing on the TV news here very long queues of people waiting to early vote in the US Presidential election.

I know this can be a hot topic but from as non-partisan point of view as possible can anyone explain why these queues occur? I know they have been a feature on election days in the past two elections with some having to wait hours to vote.

The reason I find it hard to understand is that my experience of voting has always consisted of a couple of minutes wait at most to get into the polling booth. I know that the US overall has more people voting than here in the UK but at the same time you can look at it as 50 state-wide votes and each state has far fewer electors than the UK. There has also historically been lower turnouts in the US than here.

So why the difference? Is it a lack of polling stations or does it take a long time to vote once you get inside?
Offline | Profile | Quote | ^
 
Wichita
Member Avatar
The Adminstrator wRench
My experience - with one exception - has always been like yours DS9074. In my area, there usually isn't a problem with getting poll workers or sites where they can host a polling place.

From what I have heard, in bigger cities, they don't get the workers that we do. Ours are usually retired and senior citizens who take great pride in getting everything done right. In contrast, I have heard that the workers are sometimes people just looking for a day's wages. They may or may not show up.

That can increase the time it takes to process voters.

Also, the issues themselves can be a problem. They are suggesting this year in my state that people read the material beforehand so as to not slow up voting on election day.

I think the biggest reason is the machines themselves. It's somewhat a guessing game as to how many machines need to go in certain areas. Some people will manipulate the situation to help their agenda, but, generally, I would say knowing how many machines to place generally works, but, when it doesn't, it is a BIG problem.
Offline | Profile | Quote | ^
 
ds9074
Member Avatar
Admiral
^^^
So as usual the media shows us the worst case scenario not the overall picture.

I am not sure why America is so intent on voting machines. We are still using pencil, paper and hand sorting. Over 20 million votes cast and counted that way in 2005. Tried and tested. :) The one election where we did trial counting machines - guess what we ended up with problems and in some areas election officials went back to hand sorting.

I'm surprised that there is difficulty in getting people to man the polling stations. Seems like an easy job to me, sit there and check people off a list. I think what happens here is that they draft in local government workers from their regular jobs on polling day to help run the election, having worked in local government (but not during an election myself) it seems to be considered part of the job - either you help man the stations during the day or you help count during the night! Perhaps we just have a bigger army of council officers and civil servants :)

Offline | Profile | Quote | ^
 
somerled
Member Avatar
Admiral MacDonald RN
Never had to queue to vote in my entire life , usually takes longer to find a park , unless I simply walk to the polling station (at the local primary/infants school about 1/4 mile away from home) , then it only takes as long as it takes the official to find my name in the roll and put a line through my name (a minute or two max) .
All done and dusted inside a few minutes.

BUT we traditionally have polling days on Saturdays and you can vote anytime from 8am (?) to 6pm on the day.

I personally think that requiring people to vote on a weekday is stupid and places unnecessary obstacles in the way of people who have to work (and commute) on the day.
A lot of people will not be able to get near a polling booth before work, at lunchtime, during the day if they are working, or after work (especially if they have a long commute).
Offline | Profile | Quote | ^
 
somerled
Member Avatar
Admiral MacDonald RN
ds9074
Nov 1 2008, 06:57 PM
^^^
So as usual the media shows us the worst case scenario not the overall picture.

I am not sure why America is so intent on voting machines. We are still using pencil, paper and hand sorting. Over 20 million votes cast and counted that way in 2005. Tried and tested. :) The one election where we did trial counting machines - guess what we ended up with problems and in some areas election officials went back to hand sorting.

I'm surprised that there is difficulty in getting people to man the polling stations. Seems like an easy job to me, sit there and check people off a list. I think what happens here is that they draft in local government workers from their regular jobs on polling day to help run the election, having worked in local government (but not during an election myself) it seems to be considered part of the job - either you help man the stations during the day or you help count during the night! Perhaps we just have a bigger army of council officers and civil servants :)

I happen to know at my local polling station , some of the teachers pick up the job of being tally officers and manning the polling station on the day .... a handy bit of extra (and I hear tax free) pocket money .

My niece has also cottoned on to the gig too , and works as tally officer on poll days , she also works as a scrutineer at her local high school during the HSC and at the uni and tech college at exam times too , being a stay at home mum she finds the extra money handy.
Offline | Profile | Quote | ^
 
Minuet
Member Avatar
Fleet Admiral Assistant wRench, Chief Supper Officer
My parents work for every election. Great way to make a bit of extra money.

Somerled, in Canada we don't need to vote on weekends or make it a holiday. There is legislation that employers must make thier schedule so that everyone has a certain amount of consecutive hours during the day free so they can vote. I forget the exact figure, maybe Franko or Mel knows. Weekends are bad because they end up on someone's Sabbath, whether on Saturday or Sunday.
Offline | Profile | Quote | ^
 
fireh8er
Member Avatar
I'm Captain Kirk!
I've never had to wait to vote. I vote at a church down the street from my apartment. I just walk show my identification, pick up my voting card and head for the closest voting booth.
Offline | Profile | Quote | ^
 
Bug
Supernatural = Hotnatural
My mom, grandma and aunt have all worked at our local polling place for as long as, well, I can remember. Actually, come to thing of it, my name is still misspelled on my registration...(and my dad and I even did it a few years ago online and edited it several times to make sure it was correct...anyway...)...the polls there are busy at certain times of the day, but then again I was always in school, except for the after work rush when my grandpa would drive me to spend the evening there. But I have a feeling this election will be different than others.
Offline | Profile | Quote | ^
 
Swidden
Member Avatar
Adm. Gadfly-at-large; Provisional wRench-fly at large
The reason for this is that there are limited places to vote prior to the actual day of election. I cannot speak for all states, but here it is usually County election offices and/or City Hall, or other similar civic offices. On election day there will be many more precincts open and available. In high traffic areas this may result in some waiting periods at peak times (especially before and after work hours).
Offline | Profile | Quote | ^
 
Dandandat
Member Avatar
Time to put something here
ds9074
Nov 1 2008, 06:57 PM
I am not sure why America is so intent on voting machines.
Its probably a cultural thing; thinking a machine can do a better job than a human.

You also have to take into account that while you could easily make the analogy of 50 individual state elections being comparable to a UK election; the history, geography, and culture of those 50 individual states are different (some considerably so) to the history, geography, and culture of the UK. It is not so easy a thing to generalize.

But I am no expert – im just giving you a logical thought here.


And since we are relating our experiences. I have never had a problem voting, never had to stand in line for more than a minute. I have voted in both a major metropolitan area (NY city) and in the suburbs of long island. We use a levered machine that punches holes into a ballet. Never had a problem with it, in fact I couldn’t imagine any other way being better.
Offline | Profile | Quote | ^
 
Admiralbill_gomec
UberAdmiral
The lines were due to early voting. I was tempted to vote on Friday, but had too many things to do on my self-enforced "day off." So, I'll be at the poll with my newspaper tomorrow morning at about 7:45, just in case I have to wait for more than a few minutes (at least I'll be able to knock out the crossword and sudoku). I'd go earlier, but I don't want to kids to be late for school.
Offline | Profile | Quote | ^
 
Admiralbill_gomec
UberAdmiral
I was listening to the noon news update on the radio. It says that 38% of registered voters in Harris County voted early. I'm sure that this will ease some of the congestion at the polls on voting day for that county (contains Houston). There were no figures for my county, but I'll bet the polls won't be too intolerably crowded for those who will be there at the opening.
Offline | Profile | Quote | ^
 
Admiralbill_gomec
UberAdmiral
Update: I voted this morning. I got to the polls around 0750. I left at 0820. There were just under fifty people ahead of me. According to one of the nice older ladies who checks voter registration, there were over a hundred lined up before 0700.

My wait wasn't that bad, but interestingly four of the machines were not working. According to the news there have been sporadic problems with machines in many different areas around Houston. This does not disenfranchise anyone, but it did lengthen the wait a bit.
Offline | Profile | Quote | ^
 
Dwayne
Profanity deleted by Hoss
No major line for me... I just walked in an within 10 minutes I voted a straight republican ticket, even though I am not a registered republican.
Offline | Profile | Quote | ^
 
Admiralbill_gomec
UberAdmiral
I manually voted for a straight ticket Republican slate. I just don't trust the "Straight Ticket" button, and since I had to wait wanted to make every single selection.
Offline | Profile | Quote | ^
 
Go to Next Page
« Previous Topic · Politics and World Events Forum · Next Topic »
Add Reply

Tweet
comments powered by Disqus