Ask Lemmy

I've had vote by mail my entire life (well, of voting age anyway). So 0.

~10min in Canada

Brazil, 5 minutes

30 Minutes in Germany

5 - 10 min. Germany

Oh, I'm thinking about 20 minutes in line outside a small community center, back when I lived in North Dakota (pop of whole state about 600,000). As a lifelong nomad, it was the only state I lived where I actually attended a Democratic party caucus. It was an enjoyable excursion into a behind-the-scenes election process that most will never venture into. Best part was, I escaped without being signed up for anything more!

I think there were like two couples and another person entering the building just ahead of me, so I had to wait 10 seconds until it was my turn to drop my envelope in the urn. This was in Switzerland, in a suburb of Zürich.

But more often I just walk in up to the box, say hello to the people organising and drop it in directly. I've never encountered a queue yet.

20 seconds, Germany. Waiting while they checked if my name was on the list.

About an hour. New Zealand. Things weren't well-organised that day.

About 15 minutes, this morning in Wilmington, NC. In previous elections here, I've walked in and voted immediately, with no line

Australia (Sydney). A few years ago I went and there was a queue going outside the door and volunteers were telling people that it would take 30-45 minutes but to please stay in line. They were also handing out Tim Tams for people in line. I decided to try another polling station instead, which was 10-15 minutes walk away. There was no queue at all there so I was out within a couple minutes. So that one took the longest even though most of it was walking to another location. Wish there was a way to tell the people in that queue that other locations were empty.

Maybe 30 to 45 minutes in Merritt Island, Florida, back in 2004.

It was my first time voting, and I went with my parents after they were home from work, so it's likely that that was the longest anyone there waited.

I've lived all over central Florida since, and have never had to wait at all, but that's mostly because I do Early Voting or even Vote By Mail now.

The longest for me was about 30 seconds. Coincidentally about as much as sex.

Probably about 2 minutes, but usually I never have to queue.

If I remember correctly in Corona times it was something like 10-15 minutes. Other then that mostly not at all. Country Germany

Still waiting cast my vote for Obama the second time.

Maybe if Missouri gets a new AG they'll get around to processing those provisional ballots.

5 mins, new Zealand. The voting places are super empty because they open for multiple days.

5 minutes. I don't live in a swing state and go during work hours, so that might effect it.

3 hour wait to vote for Obama. Since then it's been 20-30 minutes every time.

No more than 5 minutes.

A few minutes. No minutes today, or most years here. I'm in a solidly blue state though.

The one time I voted actually on election day I waited about 20 minutes. This is in Suburban North Carolina. I was in line about 5 minutes this election.

Usually not very long but one time there were THREE cars in front of me at the drive through ballot drop box. That was a good 20 to 30 seconds of my life I'll never get back. Bunch of slackers waiting til the last day!

Yesterday I went to vote in person for the first time in a really long time, because I moved to a different county and didn't re-register soon enough to get a mail-in ballot. It was super smooth, didn't wait longer than a minute or two while they did their admin stuff and then I was voting.

Colorado, USA.

About an hour in 2020 I think. I'm in a semi-rural Republican-leaning district that won't ever vote Democrat, but I still show up to vote anyways. Usually, I'm in and out pretty quickly every election, maybe 5-10 minutes at most. For some reason, guessing because of its importance, 2020 the line just took quite a bit longer. Every other election, presidential or otherwise, there's never a wait.

I haven't ever needed to wait. I go in, hand them my ID, they cross my name off the list, hand me the ballot, I go to the booth and write a number, dude stamps it, I drop it to the box and I'm out. Takes about 3 minutes from when I step out of my car untill I'm back in again.

7 hours. People were showing up with pizza and sandwiches for everyone in line. It really destroyed my faith in my local government but built my sense of community.

About 45 minutes, as I recall, in Grand Rapids, Michigan. I think that was the year that marriage equality (e.g., gay marriage) was on the ballot in Michigan. (I just looked it up; it was a vote to amend the state constitution to ban civil unions and marriage equality.) That was in 2004. Since then, I don't remember ever having to wait more than 10 minutes when voting in person.

I once waited half an hour for voting, because I foolishly decided to vote just when Sunday mass was over (we vote on Sundays, and my polling station was right across the church). Never made that mistake again, waiting time is usually five to ten minutes.

Location: Germany

Today in the US was for me. The polling place was only a 5 minute walk away, but the wait was about 45 minutes. Tbf though, I naturally managed to pick the slowest moving line by a good margin; people who were initially standing behind me switched to other lines midway through and were able to get their ballot before me. I would guess most people were there for 30 minutes.

For every previous election I voted in-person, the wait was like 10 minutes tops, but those were in smaller towns.

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.

Germany, zero minutes. Postal voting ftw!

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.

0. Mail in ballot for every single election.

Ive heard some people locally take at most 30 mins.

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