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

2 cents American

[catarzyna.livejournal.com]

I've never had to wait more than 20 minutes to vote but I've never done early voting either. It isn't an option here in PA. One thing I do know is that in FL they legislated to reduce the number of hours the polling places could be open. They also made it so that it was smack dab in the middle of the work day. I've heard that at least one politician has extended those hours. It could also be because some people don't know until they get there who they are voting for and just stand there holding everyone up for 15+ minutes. I also understand there is some mismanagement by those who are new to running polling locations.