Ask Lemmy

Four hours, NYC, early voting in 2020. This year it went a lot faster.

Just got back from voting, no wait. It's about a 10 minute walk from my house to the polling place. They had 3 lanes open for people to check in, only 1 was occupied. I was in and out in under 5 minutes. Longest I've ever had to wait was probably 45-60 minutes in 2016 but that was at a different polling place that was always poorly organized.

US- Wife went 30 minutes after polls opened and ended up waiting an hour today. New location for us, so don't know if this is normal here. I'll edit later with my experience.

Edit: Went around 3pm and waited maybe 5 mins

15 mins in AU. I thought I’d try to get it over and done with in the morning.. so did everyone else.

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.

Maybe 2-5mins, if they had to sort something out first with a person in front of me

Usually I go in, have a line of 2-3 people at most, and just tell my name and address, go vote and I'm usually done in like 5mins altogether - 10-15mins for the process is already something I've never experienced and would pretty much get to my nerves...

(Austria)

About 2-3 minutes. Canada.

Ten minutes, I guess? Brazil.

Hard of hearing old lady, right before me, was struggling to vote in the 2022 elections. Apparently she typed the numbers for her candidates but they didn't go through. All five of them (governor, state deputy, president, federal deputy, senator).

Typically it takes 2~3 minutes though.

40 minutes, once, in 2015, Canada.

Usually, 2-5 minutes.

Germany, zero minutes. Postal voting ftw!

Scotland. I forget which vote it was for (either the independence referendum, brexit, elections, etc.) but maybe 5-10 mins. Other than that one it's been mostly a ghost town.

... Huh, we've been to the polls a lot recently, haven't we?

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.

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

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.

Voting for any French election while in Montréal (Québec, Canada) is usually a 3-4 hours wait line

30min in Malaysia in the morning, before the weather get hot. Afterward i've heard it's 5 to 10min. Some people line up for an hour or so on polling station serving larger population.

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.

I had to queue for about 5 minutes for the EU referendum in the UK.

<5min Germany

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.

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.

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.)

10 minutes max in a couple different cities in Kansas, USA, in more that a dozen elections.

That is how it should be everywhere with in person polling locations.

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

Now getting there is another matter.