• superkret@feddit.org
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    7 days ago

    How the fuck does the US manage to make people stand in line for early voting?

    In every civilized country, you can show up on election day (when basically everyone has a free day cause it’s Sunday), you vote with maybe 3-4 people in line before you, and you’re done after 10 minutes.

      • Jumpingspiderman@reddthat.com
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        5 days ago

        The people’s will gets in the way of the will of the Oligarchs, religious leaders, and Plutocrats. Hence the effort to make it hard to vote.

    • cultsuperstar@lemmy.world
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      6 days ago

      This is what happens in some Republican controlled states when they limit the times and places and how people can vote. Trump said a few years ago that if minorities vote, Republicans will never win another election. So Republican controlled states started getting rid of polling stations and changing voting times to standard working hours, etc, knowing that people wouldn’t be able to take time off from work to stand in the now longer lines (due to fewer polling stations) or would want to stand in longer lines.

      Plus, election day is not a national holiday like it is in most other countries, so people don’t get the day off to vote. Though some companies give 3 or 4 hours paid time off strictly for voting.

    • uienia@lemmy.world
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      6 days ago

      It is working as designed, since it is meant to discourage people from voting. The less voter participation the better results for Republicans.

    • 【J】【u】【s】【t】【Z】@lemmy.world
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      6 days ago

      Man you see how it happens. You see these Republicans out there trying to fuck everything when it comes to making it easy to vote. In some places you dip your finger in a jar of ink after you cast your vote, that’s how they make sure nobody was twice on election day. In some places, I assume it’s all computerized and still accurate. That, and Nobody wants to run for office and get death threats from their neighbors, the most absolute gullible dumbasses in town. Every person in my neighborhood with a Trump sign have no idea how anything works except their own one particular job, and how to get scared at anything else.

    • HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world
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      7 days ago

      I like what california did last election: everyone got an absentee ballot. That way I could fill it out at home and drop it off at my polling location at my leisure. There was a line, but I got to walk past it.

    • jubilationtcornpone@sh.itjust.works
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      6 days ago

      There are usually way more polling locations open on election day than during early voting. They set up polling at churches, schools, and community centers all over.

      During early voting I have to go to the courthouse which is in the next town over. There aren’t any polling places in my city.

    • Entropywins@lemmy.world
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      6 days ago

      In the state of Oregon, I just get mailed a ballot and can either mail it back or drop it off…last year, I did a drive-through ballot drop off at the state capital.

    • Jyek@sh.itjust.works
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      6 days ago

      Every election I’ve ever voted in has had at least a 20 minute wait. I’ve mostly lived in medium to high density population centers my whole life. I’ve voted on voting day, I voted by absentee and there was a line for the drop box during COVID, I just did my early voting as a first time Texas voter and there was a 45 minute line to use the voting machines, not even a pen and paper ballot. I’ve never not seen a line at the polls. It’s always been strange to me thinking about the number of folks who DON’T vote vs how many people I personally witness voting every season. But then again, many people don’t like standing out in a heat wave while it’s raining so I guess it makes sense that a lot of them don’t go.

    • Zement@feddit.nl
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      6 days ago

      Same. It’s like a short stop on a Sunday walk… Because we ALWAYS VOTE ON SUNDAY!

    • Buffalobuffalo@reddthat.com
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      6 days ago

      I dont know I live in America, longest it has ever taken me to vote on Election Day is 20 minutes, yet people are still waiting in long lines to early vote this year. Typically few people early vote so there are fewer early voting places. But that is not the case this year, so we have giant early vote lines. I am not sure why my neighbors are waiting in long lines to early vote when it will take 10 times as long as in Election Day.

      • corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca
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        6 days ago

        One of the things conservatives are doing is to limit the number of polling stations per X square miles. This is done in the name of fairness and spending, but it disproportionately impacts urban voters more than rural, and thus impacts areas of more progressive voters.

        I’d guess this is a larger population center of Oklahoma.

        • Buffalobuffalo@reddthat.com
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          6 days ago

          I could have been more clear I guess. I was not trying to question why other people early vote, only why people around me do.

  • ZealousSealion@discuss.tchncs.de
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    7 days ago

    It’s weird seeing queues for voting.

    When I vote, I walk to my local voting place, chat with people I know, vote, chat a bit more, then walk home. Perhaps half an hour, if I’m feeling chatty.

    • neuracnu@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      7 days ago

      This is what voter suppression looks like.

      I grew up in Missouri before moving to Washington state. When I reached voting age, it was (and still is) ridiculously common to see polling places in rural and suburban areas with no waiting to vote. Meanwhile, in the cities (which happen to vote more democratic), you’ll see loooong lines extending outside. When voting facilities and staff are not proportionally distributed to accommodate voter density, you get shit like this; voters in different districts receiving different treatment. And people who live there never know any better to ask for something different.

      This all blew my mind after living first in a suburban area, then an urban one, and now living in a state that has done voting my mail for decades. I love voting by mail. It’s unconcionable to me at this point for people to stand for in-person voting anymore.

    • Ultraviolet@lemmy.world
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      6 days ago

      It’s probably a blue area in a red state. They intentionally open fewer polling places there as a voter suppression tactic, hoping people will see the line and figure their vote doesn’t have enough weight to justify the time.

      • OmnislashIsACloudApp@lemmy.world
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        6 days ago

        exactly this. I’ve moved around a bit and the only places I’ve had to wait any significant amount of time have been near cities in red states.

        really wish we just had universal vote by mail

    • CluelessLemmyng@lemmy.sdf.org
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      7 days ago

      Where I live, we had early voting for a whole month now. We went during the second week - 0 minute wait. It took longer to walk into the building and follow the signs than it was to get my ballot, vote, and walk out.

    • NotSteve_@lemmy.ca
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      7 days ago

      I came here to say the same thing. Like I’ve waited behind a few people before in Cananda but a line going out the door and down the street is insane

    • copd@lemmy.world
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      6 days ago

      I just mail my vote, mail comes in fill in form and mail goes out.

      It takes 5mins out of my day tops

      • Semi-Hemi-Lemmygod@lemmy.world
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        6 days ago

        I also vote by mail and it usually takes me longer in non-presidential years because there’s more offices to vote for and zero local campaigning. So I have to creep on people on social media to know if I’m comfortable with them having the powers of prothonotary.

        • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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          5 days ago

          zero local campaigning

          That’s usually true here as well. This year is the only time I have seen someone campaign. I know him and he’s an amazing guy, so I hope he wins, but I have just never seen local politicians willing to go out and press the flesh.

          He works for one of the local TV stations as a “one-man-band” (someone who goes out with a camera and gets the story and the interview and such themselves, but doesn’t get a reporter credit), so he knows how to talk to people, likes to talk to people, and he’s well-known in the community.

          That’s it. Him. No one else ever.

          Probably why we had the same Republican mayor for four terms.

        • MonkeMischief@lemmy.today
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          6 days ago

          That’s so much “fun” with all those tiny local offices. “Okay who is this person?”

          Zero public web presence about them at all.

          It’d be nice if there was something like Ballotpedia but public owned. “You want to run for an office? You need to fill out this profile.”

          I imagine lots of people are just like “Eh, this name sounds pretty.” Lol

  • PetteriPano@lemmy.world
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    7 days ago

    I’ve never stood in like for early voting in the EU. I’ve done it at my supermarket while getting groceries.

    Grab a ballot and envelope, enter booth, do the thing, walk to desk, flash id, get crossed off list, watch volunteer put your envelope in another envelope and drop it in the ballot box.

    In-and-out, three minutes.

    Come to think of it, voting on election day has always been just as smooth. I just have to go to the library or some school, so it’s not as convenient.

    • vxx@lemmy.world
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      7 days ago

      I never had to wait for longer than 5 minutes to vote and I never voted early. Mostly because it takes 10 minutes of my time on voting day, which is always a Sunday.

      Polling places can’t be further away than 1,5km I believe, so wherever you live, it will be close enough to just walk there.

      I have voted in schools, kindergardens, a community center and a church.

  • Steal Wool@lemm.ee
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    7 days ago

    Well, ya know what Grammy always said:
    Hope in one hand, shit in the other, and see which one fills up faster…

        • SolarMonkey@slrpnk.net
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          7 days ago

          I vote absentee, as do most of the people I know, and after 2020, none of us are mailing our ballot back. We are taking them to the in-person voting areas and dropping them off with staff.

          In 2020, there were reports of ballots being dumped, and so far there have been reports of drop boxes set on fire and stuff… it’s hard to trust, because of republican stooges seeding chaos, and enough of a pain in the ass to fix if it gets messed up that we aren’t taking chances.

          Edit: seeing to seeding

          • Itsamelemmy@lemmy.zip
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            6 days ago

            I mailed mine. But I also got a text that the ballot was coming and another a few days after mailing saying it was accepted and counted. I imagine it would be annoying if I had to get a new ballot because some ass caught it on fire, but probably not any more so than having to vote like in the pic.

  • Angrywaffle2@lemmy.world
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    7 days ago

    No matter who wins it won’t be our last election. I do know that the next one will definitely be the most important election of our lifetime though.

  • Cptn_Slow@lemmy.world
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    7 days ago

    Man I left reddit to get away from the fear mongering like this, and yet here you are.

    Both parties benefit from the current system, therefore they both want to keep things the way they are.

    The system works.

    If you don’t like the current state of things, it’s not the system that needs changing, it’s the people involved in it.

    • piccolo@sh.itjust.works
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      7 days ago

      No. One party benefits maintainig the status quo. The other is willing to burn it all down to gain power.

      • Schadrach@lemmy.sdf.org
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        6 days ago

        …and yet they’ve had power before - several times, including once with it being literally this dipshit - and haven’t burned it all down to gain power yet.

        But then this election is different, it’s the most important election of our lifetimes, just like the Democrats have said about every other election since at least 2004. Down to the literal phrase “the most important election of our lifetimes.”

        The reality is both major parties benefit from the system, and both market based on fear because they don’t have anything positive to offer voters that isn’t an outright lie that the voters know is an outright lie. The big difference is the the GOP markets on fear of the other and the Dems market on fear of the GOP.

        • piccolo@sh.itjust.works
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          6 days ago

          I dont recall any recent president or serious canidates claiming to be “dictator for a day” or “use the miltary to go after radical left lunatics” or you know, actually attempted to insurrect and overthrow democracy once and plans on doing it again.

          But oh yeah tottally a normal everyday election.

          • MonkeMischief@lemmy.today
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            6 days ago

            Oo! Or had the supreme court declare it’s okay to commit any crime you want as long as you’re president. That’s new!

            I’m also sick of the hyperbole from campaigners too but you’re right. A LOT has changed that can undermine a lot of fundamental freedoms we take for granted.

        • MonkeMischief@lemmy.today
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          6 days ago

          You’re not wrong about how they operate.

          But there’s absolutely far reaching consequences to major decisions by leaders in power. Don’t fool yourself thinking “It hasn’t burned down yet” just because it’s not a Hollywood societal-collapse movie before your eyes.

          Work sucks more than ever for us now. Know why? Long-dead Reagan absolutely destroyed workers’ rights and established precedents that put bosses much higher on society’s totem pole. Recessions happened. People get desperate and forget that they even HAD rights as workers. Clawing this back is the battle of our time at home.

          Before that? FDR’s New Deal actually secured quite a bit of prosperity for people amidst a complete disaster. People still benefit from Social Security to this day, even if only a little.

          Teddy Roosevelt established the National Park system. Now we’re happy we don’t have luxury apartments in the middle of Yosemite or Yellowstone, or fast food chains all along the Grand Canyon. (Or it hasn’t been used as a landfill or something because the hole was already dug so it saves costs!)

          Citizen’s United is why we have trillions of dollars in shadow-money funding “both sides” of a broken system. (Although that wasn’t put up to vote, the people in charge were sworn in by people that were elected.)

          TL;DR: I get it. It’s all stupid, we’re all constantly lied to. That’s super lame. We know and we hate it.

          BUT:

          Votes. Have. Consequences.

      • Cptn_Slow@lemmy.world
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        7 days ago

        If you think any politician cares about you, you really need to come back to reality.

    • MonkeMischief@lemmy.today
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      6 days ago

      Everyone knows capital-first politicians don’t actually care about us. We get it.

      I’m all 'bout that fancy praxis and mutual aid and all those lofty but pure concepts we definitely need to be working on. But we live in a society here.

      Not voting right now is giving an out-and-out fascist a ridiculous amount of power to start crushing and punishing anybody with a different opinion.

      We’re doing what we can with what we have to soften the blow, so we can actually have the chance to work on the higher concepts like “changing the people involved in it.”

      I’d much rather be on the ground convincing people to form unions to safely backtalk their bosses, rather than rallying up guerilla units amidst a “boogaloo” because a bunch of hateful and uneducated people put a screeching orange baby on a throne who refused to leave and became “holy immortal emperor.”

      Lmao hyperbole aside. Seriously. Standing on the sidelines and going “hmph” is basically a vote for things that are likely Very Bad For You™.

  • 𝕾𝖕𝖎𝖈𝖞 𝕿𝖚𝖓𝖆@lemmy.world
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    7 days ago

    Hello, fellow Okie.

    I know how this state is going to vote. It’s been a given every year for nearly six decades. But I’m still gonna vote, as I have in every election since I turned 18. Change doesn’t happen if those who want it get discouraged and sit their asses at home.

    What has really inspired me this year is the overwhelming majority of Harris-Walz signs in my neighborhood. I stopped counting, but I reckon there are at least thirty of them. I’ve seen a grand total of five Trump-Vance signs, and three of them are at the same house.

    Also, you get much rain last night? It was so good to finally hear thunder again. I had six tenths in my rain gauge this morning!

    Update: I stood in line for an hour and a half and cast my ballot. Next time around, I’ll remember to request my mail-in ballot on time lol

    • Crozekiel@lemmy.zip
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      7 days ago

      I’d be very happy just to see Oklahoma actually wait until the polls close to declare the republican presidential win…

      I swear every year, they decide it so early I am convinced the electors don’t even care what the vote counts are. There is no fucking way backwards as fuck Oklahoma figured out a way to accurately track and count votes faster than any other state - and voter turnout would need to be so high they know it can’t possibly turn around in the last 2 hours of the polls still being open? Yea right.

    • kyle@lemm.ee
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      7 days ago

      Wow another Okie!

      Crazy storms in the Tulsa area for us btw. And probably why I also see Harris Walz signs. We’re about to get a Democrat for a mayor!