The long queues obviously are there on purpose; incredible your sitting government can get away with it. It is really a sign of a broken system - there are supposed to be checks and balances.
World reaction to long queues of voters in US
91–100 of 268 posts
Re: World reaction to long queues of voters in US
#92We had a parliament election in Lithuania this weekend. Even with everything taking longer because of COVID-19, I didn't have to wait more than 10 minutes. If you vote in another precinct than the one you are registered at, you might have to wait a bit more (maybe 20 minutes). It really is remarkable just how many small things seem to be broken in strange ways in the US.
Re: World reaction to long queues of voters in US
#93I've never voted for the POTUS and I expect I never will. From my POV I don't really care who wins but I think my preference leans to Trump. That has mostly to do with the Democrats being overly populistic about all the concerns, without offering any solutions. If you push through the endless barrage of misinformation from both sides, it does seem that the conservatives have a better understanding on how to progress…
It's hilarious how so many on the far-right label themselves as centrists and then blame the left on "forcing" them to vote right.
Truly incredible how much nonsense you managed to lack into such a brief comment.
What about the parent comment sounds "far right" to you? In a two-party system, everyone's vote is a combination of push and pull, which means that it's incredibly normal for a bad candidate to help determine your vote (or as you dishonestly framed it, "force" you to vote otherwise). Isn't that what all the "anyone but Trump" voters are saying? I happen to be fairly happy with Biden, so it doesn't directly apply to me, but I would have voted for any of the Dem primary candidates over Trump, and for the ones I didn't like, he would've "forced" me to vote for them.
Re: World reaction to long queues of voters in US
#94It's both amazing and terrible. Amazing to see people standing up for their rights and voting in the face of adversity, these voters deserve praise and are role models for the country. Terrible because it means that they are in corrupt districts that are not properly facilitating democracy. Worthy of a federal corruption investigation potentially resulting in criminal charges. Though I am very glad people are willing…
The problem with a federal corruption investigation is that the people in charge of the investigation need to not see themselves as being on the same "team" as those doing the suppression.
Re: World reaction to long queues of voters in US
#95In 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…
In the US, one can vote for any party (preferential voting). There are other parties in America but you seldom hear about them. Two examples are the Green Party and the Libertarian party.
Preferential voting means you list the candidates in your order of preference. It means you can put your first choice for a small party and if they get eliminated by having the least votes your second choice becomes your vote and so on.
Re: World reaction to long queues of voters in US
#96The people behind this would tell you it's a "feature": by making it incredibly undesirable for people in densely-populated areas to vote (which almost universally lean Democratic), you ensure that only the "right" people are able to vote.
It is a feature but not how you’re describing. The US governing system is designed in such a way as to move at a glacial pace but also to not make mistakes or over correct. The polling systems may seem broken now but will inevitably get corrected over time. Further, the US take states’ rights seriously and allows states to make many key decisions in terms of how they wish to hold elections. The thinking is that you’d…
[deleted]
Re: World reaction to long queues of voters in US
#97It's both amazing and terrible. Amazing to see people standing up for their rights and voting in the face of adversity, these voters deserve praise and are role models for the country. Terrible because it means that they are in corrupt districts that are not properly facilitating democracy. Worthy of a federal corruption investigation potentially resulting in criminal charges. Though I am very glad people are willing…
With all her flaws, India's elections and its election commission does a stellar job. Just look at the stats for 2019 elections [1] (copying few of them): 1.035 million: The total number of polling booths across India. 2: The maximum distance in kilometres from any given voter’s house to he nearest polling booth 3.96 million: Number of electronic voting machines (EVMs) in use this election 1.7 million: Paper trail or…
2 km to the nearest pooling booth from every house hold? That doesn't seem to make sense.
Re: World reaction to long queues of voters in US
#98The lack of voting booths does seem a bit silly, in the UK during elections there is usually voting booths in pretty much every church, school and town hall so you'd struggle to live more than a mile away from one. I once got called a "god botherer" by some kid after leaving to vote in a church, that was a bit bizarre.
> in the UK during elections there is usually voting booths in pretty much every church, school and town hall so you'd struggle to live more than a mile away from one. On election day or in the month leading up to an election? We have plenty of places to vote at in Germany, but only on the day of the election, not for early voting.
Only on the actual election day.
Re: World reaction to long queues of voters in US
#99Hanlon's razor applies here. Many people here and elsewhere on the net are quick to point out corruption or voter suppression, but I think a more realistic explanation is plain old incompetence from the people running these places.
What a coincidence that the party most often claiming that government is incompetent is also the one doing the most to make voting difficult. Removing mailboxes, closing DMVs, fighting against early and absentee voting...
Re: World reaction to long queues of voters in US
#100I get the impression that this is an opportunity to paint a political story that makes your side look better (other side is suppressing the vote, therefore my candidate lost!), or perhaps in this specific case, to poke fun at America as it is a favorite international past time.
The data I see shows another possibility: voter turn out has increased by a large amount and the government is struggling to meet the demand. Over 20 years, the number of voters in a presidential election has increased by more than 30 million. That's more than the entire population of the state of New York.