Why are voting hours limited?

[a777pilot]

And you call yourself an asshole. Shame on you.

Even an ass-hole can fuck up and get something right once in a while.

 

[emperus]

You're a liberal you don't think people should take responsibility for their decisions. They had 8 fucking days to vote and they wait to the last day and its inadequate. If they would have voted a week ago they wouldn't have had a long wait. They waited until the last day and they have to wait in a long line. They put themselves in that situation.

Repeating the same thing doesn't make your argument any more coherent. When you prepare for something, you expect the best and prepare for the worst. The worst here would be that everyone would wait till Fri, and Sat to vote. Esp. Sat since people don't have to work. The election commission should have prepared and thought about that distinct possibility and had more polling stations or more workers or even had the ability to bring in more workers or more polls. This is incompetence or something worse on Florida's part.

Again, there is no reason why anyone should wait more than 15minutes to vote. And you still haven't explained to me what the justification of limiting early voting esp. on Sun. when the election is on Tues.

 

[emperus]

And you call yourself an asshole. Shame on you.

He did earn my respect for that, not that my respect was what he was looking for.

 

[DrPizza]

I cannot fathom how there are 8 hour lines, unless they've made the process too difficult for the average voter to figure out, once they show up, else they simply don't have enough voting booths. Here, I walk in, sign my name, vote, chat with the ladies running the polling booths for a minute, and walk out. If I chat for 1 minute, it takes a total of 2 minutes from the moment I enter the door to the moment I exit the door.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

maybe certain areas are totally messed up and have poll stations too far distributed. For both the 2010 and 2011 CA elections I've dropped off my ballot the day of. I'm going to drop off my ballot for 2012 too on Tuesday. I'll go see, but I can guarantee you there aren't lines more than 20 minutes long. More like 3 minutes.

 

[Fern]

-snip-
CLEARLY, IF PEOPLE ARE WAITING 8 hours to VOTE there is something wrong. I think it even amounts to a poll tax for hourly workers.

I did early voting on Wedns and I had to wait quite while before voting.

IMO, the number 1 problem is the idiots who take for ever to complete their ballot. It's as though they've given no thought to voting until they arrive at the polls.

It's not plausible to think that they could keep the polls open for 24 hrs. The polls depend upon volunteers to remain open. All your volunteers etc need to be arranged well in advance. If the turn out is much larger than expected there's simply very little to be done at this late date.

Fern

 

[Moonbeam]

Even an ass-hole can fuck up and get something right once in a while.

You may be a one eyed Jack, Dad, but I seen the other side of your face.

 

[NoStateofMind]

Depending on who it benefits most its a vast Left/Right wing conspiracy.

 

[SheHateMe]

I takes about 2 seconds to go into the booth, check off the boxes, put the ballot in the box and leave.

No reason for someone to be in line for 8 hours.

 

[Londo_Jowo]

I takes about 2 seconds to go into the booth, check off the boxes, put the ballot in the box and leave.

No reason for someone to be in line for 8 hours.

Obviously you haven't seen the 10 page ballot in question. I would say a person that had not taken the time to review the ballot could take up to 15 to 20 minutes to vote.

 

[bononos]

I'm apoplectic that people are waiting in line over 8 hours just to vote. Why are voting hours limited? If they have to stay open 24 hours so everyone who wants to vote votes without waiting 15 minutes? Why the hesitation to keep these polls open? What is the incremental cost for that? Is it the electricity the cost of more employees? Please someone give me a good reason for limiting the access to ballots?

It's absolutely disgusting that this is where we are as a country.

It hurts the poor disproportionately since they have to take a day or 2 off to vote, that is if they can stand the wait instead of getting tired and leaving. Then there was the scandal with voting machines in the last few elections where richer counties had plenty of them which were in operable condition while the poorer ones had less machines and those they had could 'break down'.

 

[pcgeek11]

I'm glad you believe so. That wasn't the question. My question is why limit voting times if people are waiting 8 hours to vote. What is the cost of more access to the polls?

CLEARLY, IF PEOPLE ARE WAITING 8 hours to VOTE there is something wrong. I think it even amounts to a poll tax for hourly workers.

Not sure where you live, but I have never waited more than 30 minutes to vote, ever. I am 57 years old and have always voted.

 

[emperus]

Not sure where you live, but I have never waited more than 30 minutes to vote, ever. I am 57 years old and have always voted.

What is the point of ur post? Are you disputing people are waiting in line for hours. Or, did you just want to gloat? I live in MA and it never takes me longer than 30 minutes to vote that doesn't discount the fact that some people have waited 8 hours to vote.

 

[emperus]

These people should be fn'ing arrested and tried for voter supression.

http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/11/04/3081614/florida-democratic-party-files.html

Elections officials, overwhelmed with voters, locked the doors to their Doral headquarters and temporarily shut down the operation, angering nearly 200 voters standing in line outside — only to resume the proceedings an hour later.
On the surface, officials blamed technical equipment and a lack of staff for the shutdown. But behind the scenes, there was another issue: Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez.
The Republican had never signed off on the additional in-person absentee voting hours in the first place.
“That was counter to what I said on Friday, which was we were not going to change the game mid-stream,” he said. “I said, ‘No, there’s no way we did this.’”
But Gimenez, who is in a nonpartisan post, quickly realized it was better to let the voting go on, and the voting resumed.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/11/04/3081614/florida-democratic-party-files.html#storylink=cpy​

 

[Rainsford]

I did early voting on Wedns and I had to wait quite while before voting.

IMO, the number 1 problem is the idiots who take for ever to complete their ballot. It's as though they've given no thought to voting until they arrive at the polls.

It's not plausible to think that they could keep the polls open for 24 hrs. The polls depend upon volunteers to remain open. All your volunteers etc need to be arranged well in advance. If the turn out is much larger than expected there's simply very little to be done at this late date.

Fern

I would agree, but it seems like an easy problem to solve that would give us a good return on government money invested. Cheaping out on poll operations seems silly to me since it's a few days every 2 years (and of the non-Presidential years are usually lighter).

It would also help if election day was a national holiday, IMO, since it would mean more people could vote on election day itself without having to worry about work. That way the resources could be focused on having as many polling places open on one day as possible rather than spreading things very thin with weeks of early voting.

 

[emperus]

So, I guess people didn't wait for the last minute.

Despite lines up to seven hours long at times during eight days of early voting, Gimenez had decided late last week not to ask Gov. Scott to extend early-voting hours in Miami-Dade. The last early-voting polls officially closed at 7 p.m. Saturday, but they remained open until the last voter in line checked in with a poll worker — about 1 a.m. Sunday

.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/11/04/3081614_p2/florida-democratic-party-files.html#storylink=cpy​

 

[pcgeek11]

What is the point of ur post? Are you disputing people are waiting in line for hours. Or, did you just want to gloat? I live in MA and it never takes me longer than 30 minutes to vote that doesn't discount the fact that some people have waited 8 hours to vote.

Some do some don't... Probably poor planning.

I disagree with early voting all together. I disagree with the absentee ballot Unless you are unable to go to the polls on election day ( Military and disabled ... ).

Election day should also be a mandatory holiday for all except essential Fire/police etc... which should be allowed absentee ballots.

 

[DCal430]

The long lines are due to this being early voters, and most counties only have 1 or 2 locations for early voting so everyone is going there. They under estimated the number of people who would want to do early voting, so they weren't prepared for the numbers.

 

[buckshot24]

Repeating the same thing doesn't make your argument any more coherent.

Maybe with repetition it will sink in.:sneaky:

We just have a different view on the roll of government. I don't think the government should be in the business of fixing the consequences of peoples bad decisions.

 

[emperus]

The long lines are due to this being early voters, and most counties only have 1 or 2 locations for early voting so everyone is going there. They under estimated the number of people who would want to do early voting, so they weren't prepared for the numbers.

I'm glad u think it is that benign. But, they purposely cut back on early voting days. Even cutting the early voting the Sunday before the election (you know, the day Churches like to bus to the polls). This isn't some incident of poor planning, this is orchestrated voter suppression.

 

[DCal430]

I wonder how many voting machines does each county have for early voting, I wouldn't be surprised if they are only using 1 or two machines in each county.

 

[emperus]

Maybe with repetition it will sink in.:sneaky:

We just have a different view on the roll of government. I don't think the government should be in the business of fixing the consequences of peoples bad decisions.

I mean, your facts are wrong, your reasoning illogical and thus your argument weak.

Early polling days are offered by the state. 1.) All the days have had long lines, as mentioned by people posting on this board and also by articles that have been written. 2.) If the state offers voting on a certain day, it is not a poor decision to choose to avail yourself of any day they offer. it is up to the state to ensure that they can accommodate everyone in a reasonable manner who chooses to vote on that day. I mean if this were a private business and they offered that kind of service, they would quickly be out of business.

 

[Exterous]

I cannot fathom how there are 8 hour lines, unless they've made the process too difficult for the average voter to figure out, once they show up, else they simply don't have enough voting booths. Here, I walk in, sign my name, vote, chat with the ladies running the polling booths for a minute, and walk out. If I chat for 1 minute, it takes a total of 2 minutes from the moment I enter the door to the moment I exit the door.

I am thinking this may have something to do with it: (Apparently some are as long as 12 pages)

It's so long that voters will have to fill out multiple sheets with races on both sides, then feed those multiple pages through ballot scanners, one page at a time.

(snip)

"This is the longest ballot I can remember," said Pinellas County Supervisor of Elections Deborah Clark. "The voter who sees this ballot the first time may need smelling salts."

The ballot will be chock full of choices, for president, U.S. Senate, Congress, the state Legislature, county offices and merit retention for judges, all the way down to city and county referendums.

But what may prompt some voters to rub their eyes in disbelief is the Legislature's decision to place 11 proposed changes to the Constitution on the ballot, some of which appear in their entirety.

"They have really created a monster," said Monroe County Supervisor of Elections Harry Sawyer Jr. in Key West.

Four amendments run on for hundreds of words, and are full of legalese such as this, on Amendment No. 5, dealing with the court system: "If the Legislature determines that a rule has been readopted and repeals the readopted rule, this proposed revision prohibits the court from further readopting the repealed rule without the Legislature's prior approval."

http://www.tampabay.com/news/localgovernment/florida-voters-facing-a-long-long-ballot-in-november/1250664

 

[FerrelGeek]

Ha, I can see why you'd think that...and for good reason. However, there is much more at stake than who occupies the White House. No EC to worry about in those elections.

15 minutes is an acceptable, if annoying, amount of time to wait to vote. Not having the logistics in place to ensure that the voting lines has for hours reeks of disenfranchisement.

Or just incompetent people running the polls at the local level. But it's so much easier to imagine one's self part of a victim group.

 

[HomerJS]

As mentioned in that other thread. They had 8 days to vote early and a bunch of them decided to wait until the last day. They had ample opportunity to vote without long lines.

Even states with early voting are experiencing long lines in the first few days.

We need to make it easier for people to vote not harder.

Funny how one day voting was established when we had <10 mil people some states think that is adequite when our population is >300 mil.

BTW - No excuse for those GOP fuckhead governers ala Rick Scott stopping early voting the Sunday before election. Can't really hide your voter supression, can you?