quote: I attempted to go to UVU and vote early today but the line is at least 2 hours long and I can't leave my wife stranded at work.
I voted this morning. I was out of my office for probably half an hour total (I work across the street from the county building where the early voting is). I waited longer to vote today than I ever have in the past. There were maybe 10-12 people in front of me. I can't imagine standing in line for 2 hours for anything. I'm seriously queue-phobic. If there are 3 people in line for an ATM machine, I'll go somewhere else, and I've been known to walk out of restaurants if there are 5-6 people in front of me. I always use the automated postal center after hours rather than wait in line 5 mintues at the post office, and I use the drop box at the bank for deposits and loan payments every month.
I know that part of the reason I don't have to stand in lines very long is that I live in a sparsely populated area - and have for the last 20+ years. But I kind of thought Provo/Orem had a similar population density as here or at least similar to where I lived in SE Idaho in the late 90's.
So - what is the threshold here? What kind of population density does it require to have hours-long lines for voting or other line forming activities.
How long are you willing to stand in line to vote? Buy a movie/theater ticket/bank/mail a package?
Posts: 2069 | Registered: May 2001
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When I voted at the county building in Provo, I only had to wait 15-20 minutes. That was last Tuesday or Wednesday at around 1pm.
Posts: 3275 | Registered: May 2007
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I've never had to wait more than 15 minutes to vote. Of course I have only voted once before...
Posts: 1287 | Registered: Apr 2006
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It took my husband and I about an hour to vote, but our polling place has a nice park by it. So, we walked over there (the walk isn't bad, but with the baby and the dog is a bit long). One of us went in and voted, while the other one played in the park with the baby. It was a fun little outing.
Posts: 2223 | Registered: Mar 2008
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I've voted three times, once for president and in two midterms, and I've never waited longer than 15 minutes. But then I always vote right when the polls open at 7am, and there is rarely more than a tiny line. The big lines usually come when people vote as they get out of work, after 5pm.
The reason the lines are so long for early voting is that there are only a couple voting sites, it's not every precinct. So a city of perhaps millions might only be served by three or four early voting sites, but on election day they'll have dozens or hundreds. Some states, like New Mexico, have already had two thirds of their registered voters vote. I would expect all this early voting in a lot of states to actually lessen the lines on election day, but that's only for states with early voting.
However, I would wait in line to vote however long it takes. For other things, I rarely have to wait long. The line at the bank is never more than four or five people deep because I never go at the worst times. The longest line I've ever probably waited in to buy something was at 6am at Best Buy on Black Friday two years ago. It took me two hours to get past a line that wound all the way through the store. Now I hunt in packs on Black Friday. You have to divide and conquer, and you need a battle plan.
In general I'm usually willing to wait quite awhile in line for most things except restaurants. If the wait is longer than 30 minutes I'll go somewhere else. It depends on how much I want the thing I'm waiting for.
Posts: 21898 | Registered: Nov 2004
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