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

[forthright.livejournal.com]

Most of the elections I've voted in have had between five and eight candidates, and I find it hard to believe that anyone who goes in undecided/unprepared realistically is choosing between more than two of them (given that when you have eight, at least three or four are fringe parties).