I wonder....how many of the states where there are problems with long lines have either a Secretary of State or Director of Elections who is a Republican?

We have the makings of a revolution. If the election goes to McC/P, it is a crime against America and it will not be tolerated. I think the people who have been patiently waiting for the outcome of this election are denied the clear winner, they will finally give up all rationality and go after those they feel are responsibility for this travesty of American Justice.

I hope I am wrong, but if not, be prepared for the worst.

I am committed Oneness through Justice and Transformation
peace,
st john

The thing missing in this is that no major party candidate in my memory has ever adopted voting issues as part of their campaign. So, if this is important to you (and I agree it should be) which candidate does one stand in line hours to support?

A few points in order here: the voting location shown in the video is Gwinnett County's voter registration office (technically, not actually part of Atlanta proper). For the better part of 4 weeks, this was the only location in that (my) county for early voting -- I voted there on 10/17 if my memory serves, waiting a little over an hour in line. For the past week, additional locations throughout the county were opened for early voting. And, oh btw, there's still, you know, the actual Election Day, when all of the normal voting precincts will be open. The only problem evident here is that these people, who were willing to take a normal weekday (work day) off and go vote, were unwilling to take that day off earlier, nor willing to wait until many more locations would be available to them. Sorry, but this video has **nothing** to say about the real problems with voting-machine distribution.

This could be fixed by Congress next year if the political will existed. (1) A national voter registry with voter ID numbers (NOT using social security numbers--a new number) that would register all people at 18 and follow people as they move, allowing a voter to opt out of voting but not registration; (2) federal standards for equal opportunities to vote backed by enforcement and money for new machines; and further expansion of early voting so that voting can be spread out over, say, a week with ample opportunities to vote.

It could be done, but it will take enforcement and money for voting machines, plus the will to enact the system.

Just having the new DOJ focus seriously on voter suppression could have a salutary effect.

And don't ten hour lines call their competence into question?

They are competent enough. It's just that they choose to use their competence to suppress the vote of minorities and the poor.

Voting machines. Making voting easier. By taking longer, and causing delays.

I believe the old way - pieces of paper and a number of boxes, seems to work very well in other countries (like the majority of the world). And it has the benefit of being able to audit the votes cast, over and over again.

But that wouldn't allow us to award government money to companies where the CEO makes public statements about keeping one party in power.

I have been a poll worker and I now work in municipal government, where I occasionally help the Elections Office with their work. I live in Massachusetts, and one thing that will definitely make for long lines at the polls is that we have several ballot questions this year. Question 1, which would abolish the income tax, has gotten a lot of press, but for many people, the question of whether to ban greyhound racing or decriminalize marijuana is one that they will think about for the first time in the voting booth.

Furthermore, at least in my city, the ballot takes forever to fill out because you have to vote for a bunch of offices (state legislature, regional school committee) for which one person is running unopposed. So there are a lot of bubbles to fill in.

Regarding lots of trained poll workers—good luck with that! We have a chronic shortage, mainly because the work day is so long. And because it's a job that people do only once or twice a year at most, it's hard to find people who are truly experienced. Even if you have done it a lot, you tend to forget things from one election to the next. What you need is to have a good permanent, full-time elections staff backing them up, but that requires spending taxpayer dollars, and who wants to do that?

In 2004, J. Kenneth Blackwell, Republican, was Secretary of State in Ohio, and also was . There was widespread inequality in distributing voting machines. In fact, some perfectly good machines remained in the warehouse. As you know, Bush won Ohio - barely. Voting machine distribution was only one of many problems with voting in Ohio at that time.

I brag, and am not proud of this, that I had my longest wait ever (and I'm 56) in the 2004 election. A whole ten minutes from when I reached the line to vote to when I proudly got my " I VOTED" sticker.

This crap that they pull in the poorer areas is a direct affront to our system of democracy. Everybody should have both the right to vote, and the right to vote in a timely manner, enforced.

As the article suggest, maybe our right to vote should be accompanied by a legal minimum of voting machines per registered voter at EVERY polling place in America. Seems pretty simple to me that this would decrease wait times and Encourage More participation in the elctoral process because it wouldn't be such a pain in the ars to people that have to work for a living, and can't wait 5+ hours to use their right to vote.

Another plus to the election process might be to hold National elections on a Sunday, when more people have free time to wait in hopefully shorter, future lines.

Actually, Hilz, part of the problem is we don't pay enough people enough to conduct our elections. The amount of money the "cradle of democracy" invests in the electoral process is pitiful.

Related to that, Royal Blue is absolutely right about paper ballots. It's what most western European countries do.

Second, per your earlier post, this would be one thing to address via new federal legislation... one polling place per X people in early voting, as well as in election day voting.

Actually, Hilz, part of the problem is we don't pay enough people enough to conduct our elections. The amount of money the "cradle of democracy" invests in the electoral process is pitiful.

Related to that, Royal Blue is absolutely right about paper ballots. It's what most western European countries do.

Second, per your earlier post, this would be one thing to address via new federal legislation... one polling place per X people in early voting, as well as in election day voting.

"So, if this is important to you (and I agree it should be) which candidate does one stand in line hours to support?"

I believe I cannot endorse any candidate on this site, so do not construe this as such an endorsement; it's just informational. That said: if this topic interests you, there is a pretty sharp disparity in the two candidates' level of interest in these issues. Obama has taught voting rights, led registration drives, and introduced legislation to criminalize various types of voter intimidation etc. McCain: not so much.

Since we'll have strong majorities in both houses of congress next year, seems for 2010 we should focus a bit more on local races, particularly Sec's of State and Atty Gen's.

I live in Georgia, and actually they did allow the elderly (over 75) and the disabled to go to the head of the line without waiting. However you are absolutely right about the time tax - and that this should never happen. Our secretary of state has a track record of trying to disenfranchise this fall. (btw, I have the luxury of readily voting on Tuesday, so I'm figuring that with 35% of the registrants already having voted,the lines may be reasonable on election day.)

This may be a dumb question, but it's one I've wondered about for quite some time...do all states offer the option of ABSENTEE VOTING or just some states?

Because if there's one sure way to avoid this mess it's to vote absentee, in the comfort of your own home, in a timely and leisurely manner. It's the one simple answer to all the problems with public polling places, yet perhaps it's just not available to everyone in the U.S.?

If everyone just voted by mail like we do here in Oregon then absolutely none of this would be an issue. Sitting down with my ballot at my kitchen table with a cup of coffee, the voters guide and my laptop I can't imagine voting any other way.

Adventuregeek...Great minds think alike! :O) And especially NW minds...I'm here in Washington State.

Well, I was hoping that the voting issue would be one of the first and foremost issues the Dems would attack when they came to 'power' again in '06, but I was sorely disappointed. To point fingers and wring hands NOW is just a sham.

I hope Obama *DOES* get elected, despite everything pointing the other way, and I hope *THIS ISSUE* will be addressed once and for all, and finally be fixed.

[...] do all states offer the option of ABSENTEE VOTING or just some states? -- Mistamatic, @14:31

All states offer absentee voting; they have to. What's different from state to state is the requirements. In some states, you don't need an excuse; in some, you do. In Virginia, ill health, absence from the precinct area on Elections day and an especially long commute to the polls will be sufficient to excuse you. But, when my husband went to absentee vote, he was too prideful to claim ill health (when you're 84, you're a walking ill health, IMO), we live less than a 5 minute drive from the poll and both of us will be in town (I'll be working at the polls, as a matter of fact). So, they sent him back home and he'll be going on Elections Day.

"...don't we pay people to estimate how high turnout will be, and to plan accordingly? And don't ten hour lines call their competence into question?"

All ironically true. Given the (r)ight agenda, creating long lines is diagnostic of --good-- planning, while the creation these lines is a hallmark of --competence--.

Here in Chicago, there are more than 2500 polling places on election day, but they cannot and do not open anywhere near that number for early voting.

I'm sure it's the same elsewhere. This early voting thing is new, and we need to cut the election officials some slack. How much of your resources would YOU have committed to early voting, with no history to guide you?

In NC we have no-excuse early voting, but you have to write a snail-mail letter to request a ballot. Why not a phone call, email, and web address to do it?

One more data point: my wife and I went to vote early today in Clark County, Indiana. Polls were to have been open from 8:30 - 4:30. At 10:55, we received number 322 and 323 and waited fours and ten minutes to vote. At just after noon, the polling place workers tried to stop giving out numbers since they clearly had more voters than they could process before 4:30. Within minutes, a voting rights attorney from one of the campaigns showed up and straightened them out. People were still coming in when we left a few minutes after 3:00. During the whole time, they had exactly two clerks on due to verify credentials and hand out ballots. Interestingly enough, we didn't see anyone leave; the staff were courteous but clearly overwhelmed. It was outrageous ...

Like I've said...we are too large a country to be expected to all vote on one day. It should be a week of voting, maybe going in alphabetical order with the last 2 days reserved for those who had to make changes or re-register etc.. This way any discrepancies can be worked out prior to voting so Republicans won't have anything to bitch about and voters can't be purged or disenfranchised.

This plan should send republicans running for cover...because they relish making voting day difficult and confusing for all but the wealthy.

My wife waited 2 hours to vote. Everyone I know is waiting hours and hours

If Congress really wanted to "help America vote" it would require that voters be allowed to cast ballots anywhere in their county. It would also require counties to monitor wait times and friggin MOVE the darned machines by noon on election day.

"do all states offer the option of ABSENTEE VOTING or just some states? "

Not all states with "absentee" voting allow it for anyone. Used to be in California you had to attest that you would be out of town on election day (hence "absentee"). Now you can vote early by mail-in ballot.

I'm still not convinced that early voting is a good idea. What if your candidate was found (like John McCain) to be a baby-eater the day before an election?

I did vote early this year, but I AM out of town.

If you already haven't seen it, everyone here may be interested in the new Wiki website for tracking voter irregularities. Everyone can contribute with a review of their voting experience and election watchers can respond to areas that have problems quickly. go to http://myfairelection.com/to sign up.

A review Balkinization where I learned about it.
http://balkin.blogspot.com/2008/10/wiki-ing-our-way

There should have been a space. the url is
http://myfairelection.com/

I just shake my head when I see the broadcasts of long lines and feel so sorry for those who are waiting.

Voter suppression is the way the Republicans win. Note how the Rs complained when Gov. Crist extended voting hours in FL, saying that early voting favors the Democrats. Hello? Isn't the idea of a democracy that all who are registered are given the chance to vote??? (The Rs sure liked those purple fingers in Iraq.) So if there are more Democrats than Republicans voting, that means you need to work a little harder to bring people to your side, not suppress votes on the other side.

All of ya'll who do NOT have the fortune of vote by mail as we do in Oregon absolutely MUST petition your state government to move in that direction. Two plus weeks in advance our ballots are mailed to us, we have until 8 pm on election day to return them to the county clerk either by mail or by dropping them off at designated county offices. You can sit and take your time, no lines, no intimidation, no challenges. There is a paper trail.

I was an election observer on Thursday for the Democrats. It was fascinating - I watched people checking signatures on the envelopes, and many who were processing the ballots. The ballots are not counted until election day, btw.

I keep seeing these photos of "the incredible, long lines of people waiting to vote" and thinking WTF?

Where I live, participation in elections is close to 80%, and I have never had to wait in line, ever - and have also voted in different precincts, as I moved about the country, and never, ever effing ever did I have to wait to vote.

Eight hours? Shoot someone responsible, seriously. It's intentional sabotage.

It isn't just that the machines are conveniently unavailable wherever turnout is typically heavily Democratic... that's the least of it.

Fact is, the machines themselves are not secure, and can be tampered with at various stages of the process. As it turns out, with the right knowledge they are relatively easy to hack, and bias. That this isn't one of the biggest, most investigated stories of the decade is an absolute crime.

Just Google the "Hursti Hack", and/or check Wikipedia for the history of Diebold (now Premier) Election systems, for a start.

Once you check the facts, you realize that the following statement is the most constitutionally frightening one of the entire election: "Together, ES&S and Premier Election Solutions (formerly Diebold Election Systems) are responsible for tallying approximately 80% of the votes cast in the United States (as of 2004-- undoubtedly higher by now.) "

...with NO paper trail, public accountability, or provable impartiality.

Do you really think it was just coincidence that the Ohio exit polls were almost completely reversed by the "actual votes", in 2004? Who do you know that would consent to an exit poll, and then lie about their vote? And this happened by the thousands? No friggin' way.

I'm not saying that McCain himself is privy to all this... it may have been used against him as well, when he wasn't the "golden boy" of the far right. But the right-wing election machine is rife with rich and powerful fanatics, liars, and cheats, who will stop at nothing to continue their grip on the testicles of the country.

Obama will need a HUGE majority to overcome these crooks-- DO NOT LET ANY DEMOCRATS YOU KNOW "FORGET" TO VOTE! And tell them to refuse to be intimidated by whatever polling obstacles are thrown at them!

It is absolutely essential to get a Democratic President with majorities in both houses, and not let this issue just die out as it did after 2004... or we could all be witness to the beginning of the end of our brave little experiment in democracy, after a mere 200+ years.

I go for voting open for a week, not a day, as the best solution so far.

I live in the Greater Atlanta area. When I lived in Fulton County, which has one of the highest percentages of African Americans, my wait to vote was always over an hour. We had 3 precincts voting in one school with maybe 8 electronic machines. There were always lines.

Now I live in an affluent part of Cobb County, a GOP stronghold. I never wait to vote. There is one precinct voting in a church. There are over a dozen machines, and I have never seen more than 3 being used. The rest sit empty.

There is no doubt in my mind that the GOP and former conservative Democrat Secretary of State set up this distribution of voting machines to disenfranchise minorities.