Ask Lemmy

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.

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.

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.

My first presidential election was in 1980. I waited almost six hours to vote for Jimmy Carter in Iowa City, Iowa, USA (a medium-sized college town).

It was surprisingly festive. There were people walking the line handing out water and snacks. There were several musicians performing at various points along the line.

Two and a half hours early voting in Chicago

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)

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.)

Portsmouth, Virginia here. The early in-person voting line was around the block and took over 2 hours to get through.

Granted it's not as long as others, but it is a good sign when early voting lines are so long.

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.

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

<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.

~1 minute here in Austria, usually it takes longer to find the right room than to wait in line when I've found it

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.

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

I remember rushing home, changing out of my uniform and jumping in line at the local library… and I stood there for like 4-6 hours in the freezing cold. Rosario Dawson, the actress, actually came by with donuts, back before the republicans outlawed providing food and water to people in voting lines. I actually took a picture of my wife with her, she was so kind. My wife and I were taking turns hiding in the car to stay warm, and saving a place in line. I couldn’t believe how cold and how long the line was. The shitty thing was that it was also extremely windy, the cold bit hard.

This was Atlanta, GA probably for the Biden/Trump election in 2020. I’ve voted early ever since, I walk in and out within like 15 minutes now. I’m not doing 4-6 hour lines ever again.

Edit: poll workers actually came out and designated someone as the last voter, and we stayed in line well past the normal close time. But, they had to get the last person who showed up before close.

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.

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.

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?

40 minutes, once, in 2015, Canada.

Usually, 2-5 minutes.

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

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

Now getting there is another matter.

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

England - never been a line. The only thing I've ever had to wait for is for the bod manning the polling station to find my name on the list and hand me a voting slip. In and out in a couple of minutes.

10 or so minutes once, I came there at the busiest time. Czechia.

Oregon here 0 minutes. My ballot is delivered in the mail and I can drop it off at the post office or ballot drop box.

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

About 2-3 minutes. Canada.

Houston, Texas. 4.5 hours

The lines are intentional to discourage you from voting

Maybe 5 minutes in Germany