I haven’t read this whole thread so maybe I am repeating something.
I had a good friend who lived in Cleveland in 2000. He told me that some weeks before the election, the Republican governor of Ohio (or maybe the secretary of state had several dozen voting machines moved from black neighborhoods in Cleveland, where they desperately needed, to rural areas of the state, where they weren’t. As a result there was at least one precinct where some people waited in line till midnight to vote (and some doubtless gave up). My friend was of the firm opinion that it was in Ohio, not Florida, that the election was stolen. Remember, Ohio was purplish in those days (and Obama won there in 2012 and probably 2008 as well.
Happens in rural areas, as well. My son’s mother-in-law lives in Bon Homme County, SD. Not that it matters, but it’s a deep red county in a deep red state. Bon Homme County covers an area of 582 square miles, there are five polling places in the entire county. So each polling place covers an average of 116 square miles , roughly an area of 11x10 miles.
Winter comes fast in South Dakota, and voters may find themselves having to drive to the polls in freezing rain or snow.
Yeah, that wont work, because the people we really need to get out and vote- dont get bank holidays off. And some will just take Monday off and go on a 4 day vacation.
Yep.
California does that (4 hours paid), but the polls here are open so late it rarely is needed.
To answer the OPs question- few polling places in big cities because just about every big city in America is BLUE.
I’ve never experienced any significant delays in voting here in Chicago. The only time I’ve had to wait over an hour was in Milwaukee.
It does seem notable that these problems seem to occur mostly in big cities in Republican States. I’m going with “GOP disenfranchisement efforts” as the main reason, with “ordinary bureaucratic incompetence” in second.
I would prefer to have elections run over two days, a Saturday and a Sunday. Also, why not have them in September, the way it used to be in Maine? Before it snows.
I think we originally picked November to be after the harvest was in. Not surprised Maine was earlier.
But September is actually a horrible time, because parents are distracted with all the back to school stuff. And college students don’t have time to register, and may be in flux. (And voting days would often fall on the Jewish high holidays.)
The county I work for does it right. Well so does the State of Colorado with mail in voting.
The county has free bus service. And what they have done in the past is pull up a few buses outside the polling places so that people can take a number, sit in a warm bus and wait there instead of standing out in the cold (November can be deadly cold).
Some people don’t opt for it. Some may just be old fashioned about it. And mail is problematic up here. We don’t have mail delivery. You must have a PO Box.
Works for my Wife and I though. Getting your ballot in the mail (POB) is great. We always return it in person though. Pointless to mail it since you can see the County Gov building from the PO.
Every registered voter in the State of Colorado is sent a ballot through the mail.
The following is a timeline of important dates around the Nov. 5 election:
Oct. 11 to Oct. 18: Mail ballots are sent out.
Oct. 21: The first day that county drop boxes must be open. They will stay open until 7 p.m. on Nov. 5. Polling centers will also open on this day and remain open through election day.
Oct. 28: Last day to register to vote and receive a mail ballot. Anyone registering after this date has to vote in person.
Nov. 5 Election Day. People can get in line to vote in person or drop off mail ballots until 7 p.m. Anyone who got in line before 7 p.m. will not be turned away and will be able to vote.
Nov. 13: Deadline for voters to cure ballot defects (including missing signature, signature verification and missing IDs)
So every registered voter gets a mail-in ballot, which they can fill out and mail, or drop it in a drop box, or bring it to the polling place. Or they can decline to use the mail-in ballot and vote in person.
Right. In my town, the lines never extend outside the door. For that matter, when i lived in Manhattan, the lines never extended outside the door.
I honestly think Republican government officials don’t want to spend the money to make voting convenient for democratic-leaning urban-dwellers. Because it DOES cost money to staff each polling place. I was chatting with my town clerk, who was trying to decide how many polling places to have. She knew she’d need fewer because we started having a mail-in option, but she didn’t want to cut availability.
