Where I voted, there was an old guy who, like you said, either didn’t want to wait or didn’t realize what all the other people were lined up for, and tried to vote at the “Kids Vote” table. The two women working that table politely told him what line he really needed to be in.
A few things:
First of all, there has NEVER, in the whole history of the United States, been anywhere near “a couple hundred million voting.” According to the GMU Voter Turnout web site, the highest number of voters ever was about 123.5 million, in 2004 (i’m willing to bet that record gets beaten this year).
Second, i’m not sure that population levels should be an excuse. After all, while a county of 300 million people (like the United States) might have 15 times as many eligible voters as a country with 20 million people (like Australia), it also has 15 times the resources (at least), and 15 times the people to staff the election and the polling places.
I’m aware that elections in the US involve local and state issues, not just ticking a box for President. But if you’re going to vote, and have worked out who to vote for before you actually enter the voting booth, it doesn’t actually take very long to complete the process. I don’t think all the delays in the American system can be put down to the number of ballot issues.
As for election laws varying from state to state, well that’s part of my point. I recognize that there are plenty of Americans who want the federal government’s hands off most things, but it seems to me that a whole heap of the delays and the incompetence and the inefficiency of American elections comes from having a non-standardized system, often overseen in certain places by a bunch of rubes or petty dictators. I recognize that a decentralized system of state control is one that has a long history, and that most Americans seem to prefer, but that doesn’t mean it’s without drawbacks.
I’ll quit my hijack now.
Hope you all enjoyed your voting experience. I wish i could have joined you.
It’s a shame my preschooler doesn’t know your daughter; that’s his favorite junk food. He thinks they are Krabby Patties! 
He’d vote for her candy in a heartbeat.
About 20 minutes worth of wait, with an impressive two car accident on the corner of the polling place - ambulance took two people away to the hospital, but both walked to the ambulance. Three African American women leaving the polling place with tears staining their faces and a trio of African American schoolboys on the way to school chanting O-bam-a, O-bam-a on their way to school in a disadvantaged neighborhood I drive through.
(The house across from the polling place had a large McCain/Palin sign in front of it, but it didn’t pack the emotional punch for me of those women or the boys)
That is the policy in Iowa as far as I understand it. They cut off joining the line at closing time, but anyone already in line is still processed. I would be surprised if other states did not do something similar. But, I second Ferret Herder double check with your local election authority to be sure.
I guess that must mean there never will be, even in a year with many states and precincts reporting record turnouts. According to the US census, there were 197 million eligible voters in 2004, 55 million of which were not registered, and a further 16 million who did not vote (see here). I realize “eligible” does not mean “likely to vote” or even “registered,” but if the numbers from various states for new voter registrations are to be believed along with record turnout predictions, we’re a lot closer to a couple hundred million than a hundred million.
India just finished with their elections. They had 600 million eligible voters, and it took a month. Yes, we’re more technologically advanced than India, but 18 hours stretched out over 5 time zones compared to a month is pretty impressive. That’s not even taking into account the fact that the majority of the work is done by private citizens donating their time.
I both agree and disagree. It would be really nice if everything were standardized. On the other hand, it would mean more in tax money spent and while probably every citizen would agree in theory that the system could be better when it comes to opening our wallets up to more taxes, you wouldn’t believe the push back. Not to mention how hard headed we get when someone tries to tell us our state has to give up some of its autonomy. [Insert your state name here] doing things the same way they do them in [derogatory state name here]? Has hell frozen over already? Sorry. We can’t even agree on something as black and white as every citizen of legal age being able to marry regardless of their gender, and you want our voting standardized? Good luck.
Stood in line 1.5 hours, which beat the previous record by about 90 minutes.
Gorgeous day here in Michigan. 70’s, sunshine and fantastic.
Saw many friends and nodding acquaintences.
Stood in line with my Best Friend and we blah, blah, blah the entire time.
Those of our friends who haven’t voted yet are coming over after work for a quick nosh, drop the kidlets off and a shot. They will be ferried to their voting precinct and then brought back for more shots, if needed.
We’ve decided for the next BIG ELECTION to all do Absentee Ballot, wait for the form to arrive, meet at a friends house with our forms and start at the last part on the back, take a shot and take a shot for every area. So by the time we get to the BIG DECISION, we will all be completely giggly.
I almost always have good voting experiences here in Iowa. We use optical scan ballots. There was no wait at my polling place. When it came time to put my ballot in the scanner, there was one young lady ahead of me. She put her ballot in, but the machine spit it back out again. The official at the machine explained that she had mismarked her ballot. The machine readout told her where her mistake was. She was given the option of doing a new ballot, or submitting the one that she had messed up, and her vote on that race would not be counted. She chose to have the poll worker override the machine and take the ballot. She told me on the way out that she had made a mistake marking on an uncontested race.
Why is it not like this everywhere?
Easy as pie in my rural county - in and out in less than 5 minutes. When my husband went before work, he waited 20 minutes for the doors to open, then about 15 minutes for his turn. I think I made the right choice. 
For whatever it’s worth, I saw some Republican consultant predict a turnout of 130 million this year. With population growth pretty slow, I think turnout of 200 million at any point is unlikely.
That said, yes, there are huge inefficiencies, but it’s also true that the U.S. is an enormous country and it makes tight organization more difficult.
I’ll check in with my experience later. We stopped by at 7am, when the polls opened. There was a line of 60+ waiting to vote. It was a beautiful sight. The kiddos had to get to school and I had to be at work by 8am, so we passed this morning. We’ll go after I get off work.
Hubby could have voted this afternoon, but it’s important to us to have our children with us. They get to hear differing POV all the time between us, and we’re teaching them to realize that voting is something they should take seriously. They had a mock election at school, which was pretty cool.
Just got back and have a sticker to prove it. It’s about 12 mins round trip from work to the townhall and back. Total time? 18mins!
I was going to wait out the lines after work, but my wife went at about 2:15. She called me when she got there to tell me that the lines were non existent.
WooHoo! no waitin for this guy.
I got to my polling place at 7AM and stood in line for maybe 20 minutes or so before voting.
It was raining and there was no cover over the line (which kept getting longer and longer). I was one of the few who thought to grab an umbrella out of my car, so when I left I handed it to an old guy at the end of the line and told him to pass it on…
In Richmond, VA, my wife got out of the car at 8:11, voted and was back in the car at 8:18am.
I voted this afternoon and it took me less than 2 minutes.
I just got back from voting. It’s my first time to vote at this place. They had the lines split up by last name and mine was by far the longest. It still only took about 20 minutes start to finish to cast my vote for Obama though. The lady in line behind me said she’d tried to vote this morning when the polls opened but that it was far too crowded.
There was a group handing out religious pamphlets near the door. I don’t know if someone complained but they were gone when I left. Keep in mind that the polling place itself is a Baptist church.
This is also the case in IL – my polling place had a “voter’s bill of rights” poster up, and the second item stated you get to vote as long as you’re in line when the polls close.
Well, let’s see - got my Dad to the polling place about 10:45, and were back on the road by 11:00. One last vote with the mechanical monsters.
Then took him home, and went to my own polling place. That took me another 20 minutes. Mostly because I got mis-directed to the proper table, and then I looked at the bake sale goodies on my way out.
No problems here, but deliberately not voting when the polls first open, nor waiting til after the end of the business day.
Arrived at polling place (Elementary School Gym) about 4:15. One car was pulling so I got a spot not too far from door (the street was pretty packed).
Went into the gym and since I knew what precinct I was in I went directly to the appropriate table - one person was ahead of me but was at the wrong table (alphabetacally) I gave my name and the poll worker verfied my address (well, she asked if it was correct). I signed the book and got the slip.
I then excanged the slip for the ballot (MN has optical scan system). The booths were full but there was a table. But I could only find a blue pen (needs to be black). A booth openened up. Took me a while (I fill in all the uncontested races first - lots of judges). I actually know 2 of the “Soil and water conservation district supervisor” candidates (diff districts). The only vote I had to think about was city council (County commisioner was also contested but I had figured out this vote previously)
I then went to the machine - there was one person in front of me. I then stuck my ballot in the machine and made sure the vote count incremented (from 1041 to 1042 IIRC)
I left the school about 4:23.
Brian
Meh, uneventful, got in at 9:30 AM, was out by 9:45 AM, good turnout though
My wait at about 3:30 was less than ten minutes, but they said they had lines out the door in the morning.
As I was driving home from work before voting I was at a stoplight and a school bus full of elementary aged children drove by. They were all at their windows chanting “Obama! Obama!” That was amazing.