Florida voters wait in line 8 hours.

[wayliff]

I voted on Halloween in Manatee County.
I arrived at around 10:35 and waited around 40 minutes.
It seemed like most people had pre-filled their sample ballots.

I suppose I was lucky...however...I spent around 1.5 hours filling out my sample ballot at home. I was particularly delayed finding translations of the amendments into English so I could decide without obfuscation. I also spent some time researching some of the candidates which I had not heard about before.

Based on the size of the ballot, I suspect delays will be abundant on Tuesday.

Edit: First time voter - 🙂

 

[OneOfTheseDays]

People to need to vote by mail. So much easier and hassle free. No long lines, no BS.

The sooner we develop an online voting system in this country the better. Participation rates will shoot through the roof. I think all this talk about the security of such a system is BS. Where there is a will there's a way, we can figure this out.

 

[herm0016]

I find it hard to believe that one county has that much direct power over balloting measures, ballot design, polling locations, polling hours, etc. as opposed to state election officials, especially for an election of state and national importance.

the county decides, the city/county clerk is generally in charge of election duties including ordering the correct number of ballots, making sure the correct info is on them, etc... each precinct could have a different ballot depending on how the council and such are set up. how is the state supposed to keep track of every different ballot all over the state? design usually follows some sort of standard. ballot language is decided upon by a state committee for state wide issues, and by your county/city for county/city wide issues. I have never seen a 10 page ballot, that is ridiculous.

I had to drive 30 min away to cast my early ballot, as we can only early vote at the county court house, and I live in a county larger than 6 of our states.

 

[peonyu]

I live in Miami and the polling booths are a circus here, they simply need more booths open for the volume of people showing up.

Also Miami itself is voting in huge numbers compared to other cities [and mostly all are voting for Obama - just as black voters are], the best way to state it is how a hispanic aquaintence i know summed it up when I asked him who he would vote for...His words:"Obama is helping my race out by pushing for Amnesty and by giving illegal aliens under the age of 30 a chance to work legitimately in the US." He is one who is able to live here legally now due to Obama [but he still cant vote, it was a IF question], the voters are out in droves to pay him back for that.

 

[pcgeek11]

We need to get on this immediately. IIRC, there are no employment guarantees like this in the USA for election days. That is a damn shame.

Please....somebody correct me if I am wrong here. I desperately want to be wrong on this...

http://www.findlaw.com/voting-rights-law.html

Some states do and some states don't.

They had EIGHT Fucking Days.

 

[Jhhnn]

^ Translated

Democrats discover that their 10 page ballot takes too long to complete and sue to get early voting extended in their county. Governor follows state law that requires a real emergency to extend early voting.

Looking over the Miami Dade ballot, the vast majority of clutter is constitutional amendments, which affect the whole state.

Try again.

We have the same problem in colorado, where the number of signatures required to put a citizen's initiative of any kind on hte ballot is very low, reflecting a time when the population was much, much smaller.

It serves as a form of voter intimidation. I was talking with a young coworker about her first time voting & she expressed some dismay over all that stuff on the ballot, that she really didn't understand it & so forth. I told her that she didn't have to vote on everything on the ballot, that she could simply leave some stuff blank. It was like a light turned on in her head. She didn't know that...

 

[Jhhnn]

I live in Miami and the polling booths are a circus here, they simply need more booths open for the volume of people showing up.

Also Miami itself is voting in huge numbers compared to other cities [and mostly all are voting for Obama - just as black voters are], the best way to state it is how a hispanic aquaintence i know summed it up when I asked him who he would vote for...His words:"Obama is helping my race out by pushing for Amnesty and by giving illegal aliens under the age of 30 a chance to work legitimately in the US." He is one who is able to live here legally now due to Obama [but he still cant vote, it was a IF question], the voters are out in droves to pay him back for that.

As Ryan offered earlier, it took him only 15 minutes to vote where he lives in the panhandle, very repub leaning, so there's obviously some mis-allocation of voting resources in Florida.

Maybe it's just an accident, huh?

 

[herm0016]

I told her that she didn't have to vote on everything on the ballot, that she could simply leave some stuff blank. It was like a light turned on in her head. She didn't know that...

and why is that someone elses problem that she has no clue how to exerciese her civic duty?

and if a ballot with lots of things on it is "voter intimidation" what the hell do you propose we do to correct that? just put a bunch of ovals for people to randomly fill out?

 

[Londo_Jowo]

Looking over the Miami Dade ballot, the vast majority of clutter is constitutional amendments, which affect the whole state.

Try again.

We have the same problem in colorado, where the number of signatures required to put a citizen's initiative of any kind on hte ballot is very low, reflecting a time when the population was much, much smaller.

It serves as a form of voter intimidation. I was talking with a young coworker about her first time voting & she expressed some dismay over all that stuff on the ballot, that she really didn't understand it & so forth. I told her that she didn't have to vote on everything on the ballot, that she could simply leave some stuff blank. It was like a light turned on in her head. She didn't know that...

Texas took care of constitutional related voting last November.

 

[Jhhnn]

and why is that someone elses problem that she has no clue how to exerciese her civic duty?

and if a ballot with lots of things on it is "voter intimidation" what the hell do you propose we do to correct that? just put a bunch of ovals for people to randomly fill out?

Oh, please. She's a 20 year old temp from an apolitical family who didn't vote in 2010. She heard some of us talking on a smoke break, asked some questions.

It's everybody's problem when young people don't understand voting, don't choose to participate. I think highschool students should learn that stuff in civics class, even work with mock ballots & elections over real issues.

You know, foster critical thinking skills that Righties think kids don't need to learn in school...

Horrifying, isn't it?

 

[peonyu]

As Ryan offered earlier, it took him only 15 minutes to vote where he lives in the panhandle, very repub leaning, so there's obviously some mis-allocation of voting resources in Florida.

Maybe it's just an accident, huh?

Or maybe the voter turnout is just far higher than expected ? I voted in 08 to and the polls were nowhere as crowded as they were today. The city is energized to vote for Obama, and I cant blame them, hes giving the people here [a hispanic majority city at that] a chance to have relatives allowed to be here legally if they are illegal. Immigration is a hot button issue in general for Hispanics and he scored a hole in one with that population.

 

[OneOfTheseDays]

If you live in Florida, Democrat or Republican, you should be ashamed of your governor and the laughing stock he has made your state. Neither party should ever engage in this kind of politics, it is literally one step away from treason in my book.

 

[techs]

Rick Scott is the most despised governor in the country with an approval rating in the 30's iirc.

Personally if I lived in Florida and found that I was being treated like Scott is treating voters I would not only not vote for him ever, but his party too.

This fiasco is going to make Florida deep blue by 2016

 

[Dedpuhl]

Yea, I absentee voted in Florida, and they had a ton of complicated amendments. Some of them I had to reread and research to figure out exactly what they were trying to do. One of them was pretty lol worthy, basically whether they should remove real power from their supreme court (make overriding it possible with simple majority). Who needs a system of checks and balances anyway?

It took me a couple hours to research and complete my absentee ballot. They've been saying for weeks that everyone should either vote absentee OR complete a sample ballot prior to entering the booth.

Preparedness FTW.

 

[berzerker60]

I still have a hard time believing the cynicism and cartoonish evil necessary for anyone to see getting as many citizens as possible every opportunity to vote as anything but the purest, most American good thing there is. So what if it costs a few hundred dollars more on top of the thousands of election costs and literally hundreds of millions to billions spend on campaigning JUST in the presidential race? If there has ever been an issue that should be bipartisan, it's making voting easy, convenient, and open to all citizens.

I guess that can be a problem when you build your party on protecting privilege over helping all Americans prosper together, though.

For the people suggesting absentee ballots, you're right on practical grounds, but I hope you're also not believers in the push for voter ID, because that would be the sickest kind of irony.

 

[herm0016]

Oh, please. She's a 20 year old temp from an apolitical family who didn't vote in 2010. She heard some of us talking on a smoke break, asked some questions.

It's everybody's problem when young people don't understand voting, don't choose to participate. I think highschool students should learn that stuff in civics class, even work with mock ballots & elections over real issues.

You know, foster critical thinking skills that Righties think kids don't need to learn in school...

Horrifying, isn't it?

wait... who controls the unions that control the schools???
I agree, Parents should teach their kids something once in a while, and the schools should teach civics.

the issue is, most people just don't give a shit and go and vote for whom ever the media tells them too.

I am glad I live in a state that takes voting seriously, always besting national turnout figures, above 75% of registered voters for the last 6 elections, and above 90 for 4 of them.

 

[Jhhnn]

Or maybe the voter turnout is just far higher than expected ? I voted in 08 to and the polls were nowhere as crowded as they were today. The city is energized to vote for Obama, and I cant blame them, hes giving the people here [a hispanic majority city at that] a chance to have relatives allowed to be here legally if they are illegal. Immigration is a hot button issue in general for Hispanics and he scored a hole in one with that population.

Or maybe the Repubs who currently run the state are deliberately blind, feigning helplessness, employing whatever they can to suppress unfriendly voter groups?

It's not like Obama made that announcement a few weeks ago, or that anybody with enough brains to pour piss out of a boot wouldn't realize what the effect would be on Florida's hispanic population.

They know, and they don't give a damn. Actually, they do give a damn, and will employ whatever stealth methods they can get away with to deliver the state to Romney.

Following the 2010 election, Florida Republicans concluded that it was a little too easy to vote in the state. “I want the people in the State of Florida to want to vote as bad as that person in Africa who is willing to walk 200 miles for that opportunity he’s never had before in his life,” said GOP State Senator Michael Bennett. “This should not be easy.”

http://www.thenation.com/blog/170261/recent-history-gop-voter-suppression-florida

Florida Repubs have no shame, no sense of fair play at all.

 

[Jhhnn]

wait... who controls the unions that control the schools???
I agree, Parents should teach their kids something once in a while, and the schools should teach civics.

the issue is, most people just don't give a shit and go and vote for whom ever the media tells them too.

I am glad I live in a state that takes voting seriously, always besting national turnout figures, above 75% of registered voters for the last 6 elections, and above 90 for 4 of them.

Unions don't control the curriculum, at all, and what I suggested is very much a progressive idea, anyway.

Repubs think otherwise, Texas being in the vanguard of institutionalized dumbing down-

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...skills-really/2012/07/08/gJQAHNpFXW_blog.html

 

[Triumph]

I still have a hard time believing the cynicism and cartoonish evil necessary for anyone to see getting as many citizens as possible every opportunity to vote as anything but the purest, most American good thing there is. So what if it costs a few hundred dollars more on top of the thousands of election costs and literally hundreds of millions to billions spend on campaigning JUST in the presidential race? If there has ever been an issue that should be bipartisan, it's making voting easy, convenient, and open to all citizens.

I guess that can be a problem when you build your party on protecting privilege over helping all Americans prosper together, though.

For the people suggesting absentee ballots, you're right on practical grounds, but I hope you're also not believers in the push for voter ID, because that would be the sickest kind of irony.

so where does it realistically end? vote online, where there's no guarantee of who is clicking the voting link? open the polls 24 hours a day for a full year ahead of time? come on. we had 1 day voting for 225 years, and suddenly giving people MORE time to vote turns into a clusterfuck? i think the problem is with the short attention span, immediate gratification, 24 hour accessible society that we have. i want to vote NOW AND I'M NOT GOING TO DO IT ANY OTHER TIME BECAUSE NOW IS WHEN I WANT TO DO IT.

 

[Thump553]

I just don't understand how this is allowed to happen. I've personally voted in multiple towns/districts in two different states in the last forty years and the longest I've EVER had to wait was roughly an hour (hotly contested Carter-Ford race, lived in a big city). I've also served as an election monitor in New Hampshire in 2000, 2004 and 2008-in Concord, a college town and a regular size town-without seeing lines anything like this.

I live in a town of roughly 6,000 people. There are probably 18 or so voting booths where you file out your ballot, nearly all always empty. The only holdup in the lines to check in, and even during the morning pre-work rush that line is never longer than a half hour. All this is done in a small grade school gym, staffed mostly by geriatrics and high school kids.

I can't believe it is apparently so hard to do the procession of running an election in contested states with GOP Administrations and that this sort of stunt is allowed to continue in our country. I can guarantee you one thing-the original tea partiers from the 1770s would never have tolerated such treatment.

 

[Londo_Jowo]

I just don't understand how this is allowed to happen.

Look at this ballot and you can see how this happens. The state should have had a vote in an non federal election year for the constitutional amendments so they could keep the voting time to a reasonable amount of time say 5 minutes per person not 20 minutes plus per person.

http://www.miamidade.gov/elections/s_ballots/11-6-12_sb.pdf

Now read what a local voter had to say about being prepared.

It took me a couple hours to research and complete my absentee ballot. They've been saying for weeks that everyone should either vote absentee OR complete a sample ballot prior to entering the booth.

Preparedness FTW.

 

[diesbudt]

So wait.

People had 8 days to vote early. And have tuesday to vote.

People had to wait in a long line to vote on last day.

People still could cast a vote. No republican or democrat was given more or less treatment than the other. Each had a chance to vote, and you can't blame long lines on the government when they gave a lot of time. Especially when there is still another (actual election day)

How the fuck do people on either side call this voter suppression or the fault of the other?

So if I didn't do my homework back in highschool because I didn't spend the time to do it for whatever reasons. And I get a 0, would this mean I was suppressed with my rights as a studen because I did not have enough time to complete the homework?

I swear the ignorance, and stupidity of the die hard bias members of both sides grow exponentially as time reaches election day. Maybe I can use this as a thesis, of human stupidity.

 

[Jhhnn]

so where does it realistically end? vote online, where there's no guarantee of who is clicking the voting link? open the polls 24 hours a day for a full year ahead of time? come on. we had 1 day voting for 225 years, and suddenly giving people MORE time to vote turns into a clusterfuck? i think the problem is with the short attention span, immediate gratification, 24 hour accessible society that we have. i want to vote NOW AND I'M NOT GOING TO DO IT ANY OTHER TIME BECAUSE NOW IS WHEN I WANT TO DO IT.

It didn't "suddenly" turn into a clusterfuck, at all, but has been creeping up on us for some time. Partisan allocation of voting resources is *obviously* part of the problem, at least in Florida, as is ballot bloat from every fringe whack group discovering how to put their pet issue on the ballot.

Waiting in line for 8 hours to actually vote isn't exactly instant gratification, either, no matter how badly you want to claim that it is.

 

[FerrelGeek]

I mean, how stupid are you? The people who waited to vote should be extolled. I'm sure people saw the line and decided not to vote. I wouldn't blame anyone for choosing not to spend 8 hours to vote.

The fact you think differently speaks more to ur character than anything.

As was stated, they had more than just yesterday to vote, and they can vote on Tuesday
And btw, last I knew the counties in south FL are mostly run by dems. You know, the ones who brought us the famous 'butterfly ballot'? Yes, boys and girls, the dems that ran the polls in southern FL were the ones that created that infamous ballot and then complained how it confused people.

Sorry, I'm not that sympathetic to the whining class when it comes to this. Don't wait till the last day. Take the time to make sure you marked your ballot the way you intended. Grow up.

 

[Ichigo]

Online voting will never happen.

The internet population has an overwhelmingly Liberal bias. If anyone could verify their identity and vote online in a reasonable amount of time, it would destroy the Republicans in their current form.