As the polls grind to a close, various images linger from the humorous of a surfer voting in California fresh from the beach with his board to the inspiring of a woman in labor insisting on voting before going to the hospital. However, one image remains consistent across the country: absurdly long line. Despite scandals from 2008 of people waiting for hours to vote, election officials have again produced endless lines by failing to produce adequate voting machines for the expected vote in many areas. My voting place in McLean was wonderful – enough machines and short lines. However, I have heard nightmare stories from others around the region including over three hour waits in Maryland.
I helped cover the last election in 2008 for CBS and recall discussing the lines in Ohio where people literally passed out waiting to vote. My students reported waiting for as long as three hours in Virginia. One student from New York applied for an absentee ballot almost two months ago and never received it. From New Jersey to Florida to Ohio, people are legitimately irate that after many billions of dollars in federal funds, states continue to fail to consistently offer sufficient resources for citizens across the country. We should have a consistent benchmark standard that voters should be able to get in line and vote within 30 minutes.
The lack of resources comes with suspicions of a planned failure. In Ohio in 2004, we were struck by the consistently long lines in Democratic and minority areas. We pressed the Kerry campaign whether it would challenge the pattern across the state. At first, the campaign indicated that it would but then Kerry himself threw in the towel. Now, four years later (and 12 years after the Florida disaster) we are again left astonished by the lines – forcing voters to wait for hours despite work and family obligations. Nevertheless, politicians continue to express contempt for the relatively low percentages of people voting while repeatedly failing to meet this very basic function of a democracy. Once again, billions evaporated into the pockets of lobbyists and contractors while the lines again appear around the country.
This evening on national news two stories were shown by NBC News. If you turned off the sound, it would seem that the network repeated the story. It showed endless lines of tired people. However, the first story was a line of voters at a typical voting place while the second story was a line of hurricane victims. After the debacles in 2000 and 2008, we are still faced with chaotic polling places with lines stretching for blocks. It is not just an insult to our citizens but a recurring embarrassment for the world’s leading democracy.
Jonathan Turley
Our elections here are all mail in ballot. There are no polling places. The ballot arrives in the mail a couple weeks before the election, you complete the ballot, stuff it in a sleeve and drop it in the mailing envelope. It must be postmarked the day of the election or received in a drop box spread around the county. No waiting in lines, no headaches. It’s a pretty good deal here.
It’s a good summary page with well designed graphics and informatics.
Swarthmore mom
November 6, 2012 at 7:41 pm
“Republican governors elected in 2010 are responsible for the majority of this chaos, and it is intentional and directed at African Americans.”
It’s not just directed at African Americans. They are also trying to suppress the votes of Latinos/Hispanics, college students, senior citizens, Democrats…
http://elections.huffingtonpost.com/2012/results
Can anyone suggest a good site to watch on the net for live and current news?
NBC says Obama is behind in both popular and electoral votes.
C-Span has someone from Politco doing most of the talking now but no overview.
And MSNBC is hopeless to get control of what they have available.
Help!
Bruce
1, November 6, 2012 at 8:14 pm
This could be easily eliminated just vote by mail for the price of a stamp.
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Bulltwinkines … the postage for mailing an absentee ballot in Ohio was $1.50.
I used to vote across the street. That polling place closed and now I have to drive past one polling place to another.
The lines in the past have been extremely short. Six people would be a long line and there would 2-3 people checking us in. Tonight I waited about an hour behind about 60 people. Only one woman was checking people in. Another was making hand-written lists of who voted. The third was handing out the ballots and letting us know how to mark them. There were 4 booths but at any one time it was rare that all four were in use. And a man at the machine getting a look at our ballots as we fed them in, well, he was telling how to put the ballots in the machine.
The poll workers are required to post signs that there is to be no campaigning within 100 feet of the polling place. In the past I have complained about the political sign at the end of the sidewalk going in to the polling place. It was then moved across the parking lot, maybe 30 feet from the door. The last time they posted the sign on the door. I objected. They moved it about 10 feet down the side of the building. I wrote a letter to the BoE, hand delivered, that suggested they provide each poll worker team with a string 100′ long with the signs. They fixed the problem this year – no signs at all. I was tempted to show up with campaign materials to hand out but it was cold and, quite honestly, the folks inside were short handed and had enough to do. Next step – a letter to the editor.
I just love the government we forced Germany to take….. We fail to lead by example….
This could be easily eliminated just vote by mail for the price of a stamp.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/11/06/1157301/-Howard-Dean-finally-says-it-Only-Way-Obama-Losses-Is-Voter-Suppression
Republican governors elected in 2010 are responsible for the majority of this chaos, and it is intentional and directed at African Americans.
QUOTE: “It is not just an insult to our citizens but a recurring embarrassment for the world’s leading democracy.”
Response: Well, we’re still CALLING ourselves the world’s leading democracy. But we are not walking the walk.
I am a poll watcher right now. I have been here from 7 AM. citizen staff are hard working and dedicated. everyone has voted or been registered. lots of new registrations as precinct boundaries were changed. We have 600+ registered here and about 400 have voted
Idaho is definitely nota contested state, and Mitt will get 80% at least
It is not the number of machines per se. The choke point is the manual, personal check of voter ID and cross-reference to voter rolls. One woman does it all, and lines back up as she examines IDs and checks off the voter from the roll.
Apparently in the battle ground states, folks are being routinely told that they have showed up at the wrong locations; they are being misdirected; etc. etc. etc. Many different kinds of stuff that really doesn’t smell right. That is, unless you’re FROM the sewers…
“After the debacles in 2000 and 2008, we are still faced with chaotic polling places with lines stretching for blocks. It is not just an insult to our citizens but a recurring embarrassment for the world’s leading democracy.”
Yep.
“So ya
Thought ya
Might like to go to the show.
To feel the warm thrill of confusion
That space cadet glow.
Tell me is something eluding you, sunshine?
Is this not what you expected to see?
If you wanna find out what’s behind these cold eyes
You’ll just have to claw your way through this disguise.”
There are echoes of Third-World countries about the way elections are conducted in many parts of the United States. Disgusting!
20–30 years of age, number ca 6.
Brian,
I talked to a few young people (20–30) today in Stockholm. Unanimously they said that Romney would be laughed off the stage if he ran here. The last one was a pharmaceut, who follows the race.
Cross post: Democracy Obstruction
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NYTimes report on vote manipultion, chiefly in Ohio where Cleveland (Cuyahoga county) heavily Dem, and the Reps are doing there best. Wish they had taken a look at Florida too.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/02/us/politics/campaigns-brace-to-sue-for-votes-in-crucial-states.html?ref=todayspaper
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For those interested in more voter fraud.
It was posted earlier but so relevant that I put it up again. with special thanks to TonyC who said it was easy to do. TonyC was right it appears.
Romney’s Diebold is worst, once the code is hacked then the whole lot is accessible.
http://rt.com/usa/news/voting-machine-election-hack-088/
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The second article shows that the price of a used voting machine of class, are dirt cheap.
What price democracy? When will democracy become a blood sport? Ours of course.
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Alan Grayson promised today an expansion of the voting rights act. Hope he has a chance to vote for it.
Meanwhile, keep the polls open for 3 days, not one whereof one is a weekend day.
The Us presidential elections are a poor example to the rest of the world