DH and I filled out our absentee ballots and mailed them over a week ago. No line, no hassles. No stickers. 
Columbia, SC. Chatted amiably with the people around me. In line at 9:30 finished at 10:30.
Pretty long lines in my little town in Mississippi. It took about 25-30 minutes all told, though I’m sure things will be better now that most people are at work. I think this is the first election I’ve voted in that has ever had a line, but then, I was in grad school for the last two presidential elections and free to vote at odd times of the day, and in college and voting absentee for the one before that.
Did I know you were local? Everybody at work here went in early and nobody waited less than two hours. All I’ve done all day is answer the phone, “Is the library open today?”
Voted a block from my home in the Castro. Got in line at 7:15, made it out a few minutes before 8. The had more markers than booths, so they let people go sit on the couches & chairs around the room to fill in the ballots (it’s the social room of a senior center). I did overhear one of the workers make a call that included the words “We’re gonna need more ballots.” 
My wife and I arrived at our polling place at 8:55, said hello to all of our friends that were there (we know most of the election officials), got a flu shot, and were out of there at 9:10.
I love small towns.
The polling place was at my old elementary school, about three blocks from where I live today. I arrived about five minutes before the polls opened at 8:00 AM. I figured I’d better get there early since I work 10:30 to 7:00 and the lines will probably be chaotic in the evening. There were about 40 people ahead of me, and another 40 or so showed up in line behind me by the time I was ready to get my ballot. I stood in line for about a half hour. I took me about ten minutes to go through the choices. I picked up a “I voted” sticker and headed out the door.
I got to my polling place at 7:15 AM, and was out before 7:20. There wasn’t one person in front of me, so I probably could have been in and out in less than a minute if I had tried. I’m pretty certain that Obama and Lautenberg are going to win easily in New Jersey, so voting wasn’t very exciting. McCain will probably win in my suburban town next to Atlantic City, but my county is reliably blue for presidential elections. The only real races here are for mayor, freeholder, etc. I’ll be happy tonight if Obama wins and Prop 8 in California loses.
I went to the Steamfitter’s Union at 8:30. There was no line, and manybe about 10 people voting. It was a long ballot with lots of obscure local issues which made it take awhile.
But still I got my sticker and was out of there by 8:50.
This was in Tucson, AZ.
Polls opened at 7. I got there at about 7:45 and was out about an hour later. I got to class half an hour late where my crazy Persian professor made me translate “I am a bad student”, but he withdrew it when I pointed to my sticker.
Arrived at the polling place at 5:45; there were about 50 people ahead of me. When the polls opened at 7:00, the line was 3 hours long. Didn’t get to vote until 7:30, as there were only 5 machines & a long ballot with lots of judgeships (most of which were unopposed).
I’m going after work. I live in a very small town and can walk to the polling place. When I drove by at about 6:55a there looked to be a line of about 30-40 people.
My son called to tell me he voted…he said it wasn’t too long a wait.
Thrilling. Exciting. Momentous.
3acresandatruck, I love your pictures! You sure live in a beautiful place.
Here’s mine – Me, voting for Barack Obama for President, and Joe Biden for Vice President of the United States of America.
Awesome.
This is the third Presidential election since i moved to the United States, and i still can’t get over how long you have to wait to vote in some places.
I come from a place where voting is compulsory, resulting in turnouts of between 96 and 99 percent of the population. The polls themselves are also open for a considerably shorter time than in the US. Polling places open at 8am and close at 6pm.
Despite a level of turnout that dwarfs any United States election of the modern era, and far fewer hours of available voting time, i have never, not once, had to wait more than 10 minutes from arriving at the polling station to entering the booth. And i have never even heard of the types of waiting times that seem common in America.
As far as i can tell, America’s whole voting system seem to fit A Hunter3’s description:
I had to go down to the county election office and fill out a petition of compelling or something like that. Basically, I never registered even though I sent off my registration form over a month ago. And then I had to do a provisional ballot. Oh well. I’m telling myself my vote counted.
Once I got into that voting booth I was actually excited to vote, which is weird for me because I’m usually apathetic.
Oh, and I got my highspeed “I voted” sticker.
I did early voting about two weeks ago.
Early voting ended at my place of work on Saturday, and both on Sunday and Monday we had people upset and yelling about the fact that they couldn’t vote at the library. I’m sure that we’ll get more people throughout the week, as there are always the few that don’t realize that Tuesday is the last day to vote and that they have to go to the place listed on their registration. Last time we had an election, I had a woman come up to me and ask if she could register and vote in the same day. Up until recently, I didn’t realize that was an option in some states, but it’s definitely not one in mine; around here, the registration deadline is somewhere around 30 days before an election.
That was a real possibility for me too–I decided to drive by and see if the line was long. I really struggled with whether to vote for Obama but on the way there I realized I am not mainstream and decided to go with my gut. The line was a few people and I got in, voted for Nader and a few other people I recognized, and got out in less than ten minutes. So my vote won’t matter, but I did it.
I walked over the the library on Sunday (2.5 Miles) to vote early on the last day of early voting. Line was out the door and down the block and it was starting to rain. Rather than stand in line in the rain, we chose to walk back home in the rain. Not sure if that was a good idea or not.
This morning I extended my morning walk to include the hotel where my precinct is voting. I got there at 6:40. Polls opened right at 7:00. Took me about 10 minutes. Total = 30 minutes.
It may be because we have a couple hundred million people voting across five time zones with election laws that vary from state to state, plus there are all kinds of ballot issues and congressional elections going on within the states as well. We had three judges up for re-election this year, and I did my usual protest vote against Cornyn even though he’s probably going to win again. Every time someone asks why it takes so long in the U.S. I wonder if they remember just how big an undertaking it is.
I posted this in a different election thread, but I guess this is the poll thread, so here it is again:
It was busier than I have seen it since I’ve started voting in 1980.
One old fella was either too confused or too rude to wait in line and started his own line. The people taking the voters ushered him through, causing quite a few grumbles from the crowd. I don’t guess I minded much, but there were people with walkers who took their turn in line, this guy should have too.
The kids playing in the parking lot who bounced a ball off of my car might have caught more grief if it wasn’t 12 years old…
It is clear that the nation has strong feelings this year. This looks to be a record turn out.