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World reaction to long queues of voters in US

bbc.com

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Re: World reaction to long queues of voters in US

#31

Post by Kapura »

Disgusting country. The GOP is actively supporting and implementing systems of voter suppression, and the opposition party doesn't seem to have the will to do anything about it.

I was concerned about the reports of foreign influence on the 2016 election. Since then, the senators in Washington have made it crystal clear that they do not want to protect the integrity of the election. The Republicans want to win at all costs, and if they can't win they want to poke enough holes in the system to completely undermine trust in American democracy.

And I don't see it getting better. If the GOP stays in power after this election cycle, I am going to be trying to get out of the country ASAP. I've read enough to know that it doesn't get better when the single autocratic power is able to fully insulate itself from the will of the public. At that point, it becomes fight or flight time, and the local gun stores have been sold out for a while.

If the Democrats win this election, their first priority should be holding vote suppressors accountable, and trying to restore faith in the federal system. But I've seen Democrats win before, and they have never failed to disappoint. I am sick of trying to pretend they're good, when the reality is that the opposing party is just so, so bad.

Re: World reaction to long queues of voters in US

#32

Post by jasonjayr »

cletus wrote: post #4

In Australia we have two things the US system desperately needs: mandatory voting and preferential voting. Preferential voting allows you to vote for a third party without wasting your vote. The standard argument against mandatory voting is people not wanting the uninformed to vote (trust me, they're voting) and the usual US predilection against that infringing "freedom". I was sympathetic to this until I saw the US…

I don't disagree with moving voting to the weekends, but I can confirm that when I was attending High School some 20ish years ago, our school would block off the path from the entrance to the gymnasium from student traffic, and use it as a polling place during the school day.

Students old enough to vote were encouraged to go do so during their lunch or free period.

Some areas do make the effort to make the elections fair to all. It's a shame that there are so many areas that don't.

Re: World reaction to long queues of voters in US

#33

Post by dawnerd »

james_pm wrote: post #10

I have never in my entire life waited longer than five minutes to vote in any election in a municipal, provincial or federal election. That includes early voting or election day voting. I walk over to a school near my house (or community center, or church) and vote. I can't understand how anyone in the US accepts the status quo of their terrible and flawed election system. Make it a terrible experience, especially in…

I don’t spent more than five minutes voting either, but that’s only because Oregon figures it out and does statewide mail in ballots and automatic registration. It’s stilly the other states are so far behind.

Re: World reaction to long queues of voters in US

#34

Post by ryanschneider »

TedDoesntTalk wrote: post #13

Why would you wait in line 11 hours to vote when you can drop off your ballot at a ballot box?

That’s kind of the point, not every district has ballot boxes to drop off at. I think some of us (myself included) have forgotten that all parts of the US aren’t the same.

Re: World reaction to long queues of voters in US

#35

Post by ohsonice »

james_pm wrote: post #10

I have never in my entire life waited longer than five minutes to vote in any election in a municipal, provincial or federal election. That includes early voting or election day voting. I walk over to a school near my house (or community center, or church) and vote. I can't understand how anyone in the US accepts the status quo of their terrible and flawed election system. Make it a terrible experience, especially in…

How do you suggest that people in these lower income communities stop "accepting" this status quo?

Re: World reaction to long queues of voters in US

#36

Post by beervirus »

manishsharan wrote: post #9

I think the most worrying aspect is an emerging strain of political thought in the US that USA is merely a republic but not a democracy. I find it quite shocking that it has gained a great deal of acceptance. edit : typo

But this is true, and has always been true.

Re: World reaction to long queues of voters in US

#37

Post by tom_mellior »

As a data point, we had municipal elections in Vienna, Austria this last weekend. I went there at a "busy" time, so I had to queue for something like five minutes. This is in a city of about 1.9 million inhabitants.

Here's a map of the results of the election: https://www.wien.gv.at/stadtplan/grafik.aspx?lang=de-AT&book... . Ignore the colors, but each delineated area is one "voting district" (Wahlsprengel, not sure if there's a better translation). Each of these "districts" corresponds to a separate ballot box (not a separate polling place; several districts usually have separate rooms at a shared polling place, typically a school). I can't find data on how many districts there are in total, but each seems to correspond to about 500-1000 voters.

Re: World reaction to long queues of voters in US

#38

Post by rootsudo »

TedDoesntTalk wrote: post #13

Why would you wait in line 11 hours to vote when you can drop off your ballot at a ballot box?

Paranoia that the postman, post office, and several different people are working together to get your vote to not count and you can wait in line to cast your vote and make "sure" it counts.

Re: World reaction to long queues of voters in US

#40

Post by kawfey »

cletus wrote: post #4

In Australia we have two things the US system desperately needs: mandatory voting and preferential voting. Preferential voting allows you to vote for a third party without wasting your vote. The standard argument against mandatory voting is people not wanting the uninformed to vote (trust me, they're voting) and the usual US predilection against that infringing "freedom". I was sympathetic to this until I saw the US…

My voting location is a school, but voting days are always on weekdays while school is in session. The voting public occupies the school's gym, so it annoys me that the students must forgo PE and physical activity for the day for my precinct to vote.
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