Record turnout as Americans endure long waits to vote early in 2020 election

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RidgeSprinter said:
No early voting in my state.
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That is unfortunate. Do you think you will vote in person on Election Day, or perhaps mail in?

(I’m concerned myself about USPS delays, and is why I’m voting early in person.)
 
QContinuum said:
That is unfortunate. Do you think you will vote in person on Election Day, or perhaps mail in?
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I and my wife will vote in person. Having been a postal worker for 2 years, I know better.
 
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My wife’s state of origin ( Connecticut ) does not have early voting either.

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RidgeSprinter said:
I and my wife will vote in person. Having been a postal worker for 2 years, I know better.
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Aww, I did not intend any disparagement to your work. I am sympathetic to our USPS workers here, especially as our post office was burned down in June due to the riots in Minneapolis. I don’t blame them a bit. I don’t feel it is wise to pile more on them though, when they are being deliberately hobbled by their top tier leadership. I apologize if my meaning came off as critical in any way.
 
I’m in Texas, Republican governor, voting is underway! I’m voting tomorrow.
 
QContinuum said:
Aww, I did not intend any disparagement to your work. I am sympathetic to our USPS workers here, especially as our post office was burned down in June due to the riots in Minneapolis. I don’t blame them a bit. I don’t feel it is wise to pile more on them though, when they are being deliberately hobbled by their top tier leadership. I apologize if my meaning came off as critical in any way.
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None taken, My employment with the USPS was 96/97.
 
You are fortunate.

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QContinuum said:
If others are willing to share their experiences, I am wondering what the lines have been like elsewhere?
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I’m holding off until Monday. The lines on the first day were longer than I have ever seen them and the parking lot was above capacity. A couple of my friends voted. For one, the wait was 2 hours. For another, the wait was six hours.

Part of the reason there was a six hour wait involved some problem from systems at the Georgia secretary of state which caused delays in the check-in process in two counties.

In preparing to vote, I am notifying my coworkers that I may have to use vacation on my voting day. When I go to vote, I have a check-list of items to bring, including a portable lawn chair, rain poncho, umbrella, water bottles, food, earphones, severalbhours of movies, and portable chargers for my phones as I am going to be prepared to be standing outside until I vote. My voting location allows 40 people in the building at a time. So I will be out in the elements until it is my turn.
 
Smaller window for Florida
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Extremely small window
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Nones
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“ThinkingSapien said:
QContinuum said:
I’m holding off until Monday. The lines on the first day were longer than I have ever seen them and the parking lot was above capacity. A couple of my friends voted. For one, the wait was 2 hours. For another, the wait was six hours.
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I know this election has some exceptional circumstances due to COVID, but are long wait times for voting typical during other years? I seem to have seen previous mentions of very long lines and have never understood why!

I have never had to wait more than 5 minutes to vote in the UK. Most people here just pop into the polling station on the way to or from work and the process is extremely quick.
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QContinuum said:
Wow. Also, I am impressed by your prepping skills!
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I just am trying to limit the suffering that I go through. I expect longer waits on the actual election day. I feel for the people that have less flexible jobs and have to make a decision between voting and loss of pay.

I may be going back to the poll on another day with an elderly man that has a bit of a bladder issue. He isn’t going to be able to stand there that long without having to go to a bathroom. I will just be there to hold his place in line when he has to step out to go pee. Not that I think there will be restrooms available. While this is potentially disgusting,
I am bringing an empty bottle just for him.
This is going to feel more like an undesirable camping trip than voting.

The voting experiences are vastly varied across the USA. For those that are able to stroll in and out within a few minutes, I can understand why voting by mail may be less desirable. While we have our mail ballots in hand, we don’t want to risk the ballot being invalidated on some technicality, like using the wrong colored pen or not checking a box or signing the wrong place.
 
The problem with long lines maybe the insufficient number of polling places for Early Voting.

Personally I’ve never experienced long lines in my town with a population of 35k.
Even during the run off election last month.
As the crow flies, my polling station is 150 yards away at a Baptist church.
 
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_Ruby said:
I know this election has some exceptional circumstances due to COVID, but are long wait times for voting typical during other years? I seem to have seen previous mentions of very long lines and have never understood why!
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Well, according to the article I linked, and several others I’ve read, this year seems to be breaking some records for early voting. Thanks to efforts in some jurisdictions to reduce polls in those districts that are not particularly inclined towards the party leadership in that area, there have been problems in many places over the decades. Voting in the US has never been completely free of the intents of some to try to restrict it from certain classes of citizenry.

I think this year it’s more marked though, because of the attempts to hobble the US Postal Service, and the fear that waiting until Election Day would involve such large numbers, that violence could break out. I’m choosing to assume the risk of Covid-19 (though I will be wearing an N95 mask and social distancing) and voting early because it seems the most rock solid way of getting my vote counted.
 
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_Ruby said:
I know this election has some exceptional circumstances due to COVID, but are long wait times for voting typical during other years?
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Long lines are not unusual, but this year has seen waits outside of the ordinary.

I’ve typically been able to go get in line before opening and have only had to wait like 20-30 minutes after opening at most. In the Georgia 2018 election there were some 4 and 6 hour wait times reported. This was from delays due to problems in the voting machines. For the 2016 presidential elections, there were delays of 2 to 3 hours in some places because of problems with voting machines. There were reports of a few people fainting after standing out in the heat. This current election has already broken records. The delays have been from both the number of people and from problems involving systems at the Georgia Secretary of state.
 
In South Carolina we voted on the second day of the “open season”. It took about 30 minutes from parking to leaving. But we could have voted in our car! A movable voting machine was available for those who are impaired.
 
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