Question for Americans

[pyat]

Why are voting lines in the U.S. so long? I'm reading about six hour waits in some early voting places, and I seem to recall tales of "lines around the block" in the last election. Are there only a small number of voting stations?

I've never heard anyone up here complain about waiting in line to vote - or, if they did it was a matter of "It took me 15 minutes to get to the polling station! What a mad house!" sort of thing.

Do we do things differently, or is this just a matter of freak incidents getting media attention?

Comments

[dagoski.livejournal.com]

It's largely because we have had such a lower voter participation rate in the past. This year we have a larger than normal turnout. Even in the primaries had a large turnout/ Usually it's just me and a few retired people at most places I've voted on primary day. On top of that, we have a major machinery change mandated by law. Combine that with the GOP messing with voter lists and ACORN employees botching a lot the registrations they've collected and you've got a real mess.

[kisekileia.livejournal.com]

This is what I've heard as well--that high turnout is/is likely to be an issue.