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American here and I have had to wait >2 hours to vote multiple times. In the worst instance someone tried to illegally close the polling place even though peopl

American here and I have had to wait >2 hours to vote multiple times. In the worst instance someone tried to illegally close the polling place even though people were still lined up outside. This is in clear violation of state law. So long as you are lined up to vote before the polling place closes they have to take your vote. To the sheriff's department credit (they are generally terrible) the deputy who responded refused to make people leave and told the worker they had to stay open. When I lived in a more rural area of the same county I would just walk in and vote within a couple minutes. I'm sure it isn't broken by design though.

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monetus 5y ago
live in a metropolis? -also american but in a midsized city and ~15 minutes is more than the average wait.
- adgjlsfhk1 5y ago
  What that means is that you don't live in a city in a republican state. For the past couple decades, the GOP has gotten increasingly brazen about reducing the number of polling places for the people they don't want to vote.
  - monetus 5y ago
    Tennessee. I think I might incredibly be in a low traffic part of town despite it being a huge commercial sector with surrounding suburbs.
iso1210 5y ago
> American here and I have had to wait >2 hours to vote multiple times. That doesn't have to be the case though, that's a political decision to staff voting booths like that. It's also trivial to fix.
PoignardAzur 5y ago
The American voting system seems broken in many ways that have not much to do using paper. Elections taking place on tuesdays instead of weekends for some reason, low polling-places-per-voters ratio (though numbers are hard to find), ballots with multiple non-trivial questions, etc. Before turning to voting machines, there's a lot that could be changed at every level. Moving Election Day to weekends would be a good start.
- toyg 5y ago
  The American voting system is broken by design. There used to be reasons and conventions, and there is a somewhat excessive regard for states rights, but you could build a system that keeps that regard while being sane and fair. The fact that the US political classes would rather focus on gerrymandering instead, tells you all that you need to know about motives.
- touisteur 5y ago
  I don't even understand the concept of voting on workdays. WTF. This is a sacred thing! Especially if you want citizens of all horizons participating (and I want people from all sides to check on each other - without being too disruptive by default... I mean there's a process for reporting and all - doing it on a weekend is a minimum. See, no need for fancy tech. Paid officials and unpaid volunteers manning everything.

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monetus 5y ago

live in a metropolis? -also american but in a midsized city and ~15 minutes is more than the average wait.

adgjlsfhk1 5y ago
What that means is that you don't live in a city in a republican state. For the past couple decades, the GOP has gotten increasingly brazen about reducing the number of polling places for the people they don't want to vote.
- monetus 5y ago
  Tennessee. I think I might incredibly be in a low traffic part of town despite it being a huge commercial sector with surrounding suburbs.

iso1210 5y ago

> American here and I have had to wait >2 hours to vote multiple times. That doesn't have to be the case though, that's a political decision to staff voting booths like that. It's also trivial to fix.

PoignardAzur 5y ago

The American voting system seems broken in many ways that have not much to do using paper. Elections taking place on tuesdays instead of weekends for some reason, low polling-places-per-voters ratio (though numbers are hard to find), ballots with multiple non-trivial questions, etc. Before turning to voting machines, there's a lot that could be changed at every level. Moving Election Day to weekends would be a good start.

toyg 5y ago
The American voting system is broken by design. There used to be reasons and conventions, and there is a somewhat excessive regard for states rights, but you could build a system that keeps that regard while being sane and fair. The fact that the US political classes would rather focus on gerrymandering instead, tells you all that you need to know about motives.
touisteur 5y ago
I don't even understand the concept of voting on workdays. WTF. This is a sacred thing! Especially if you want citizens of all horizons participating (and I want people from all sides to check on each other - without being too disruptive by default... I mean there's a process for reporting and all - doing it on a weekend is a minimum. See, no need for fancy tech. Paid officials and unpaid volunteers manning everything.