Culture: Two nations divided...

[tonyc1]

Is it true that voters are queuing for hours to cast their vote in the US? This must deter some would

-be voters. The US electoral officials should come up with a way to make it less of a headache for their citizens to participate in electing a candidate. Down here our elections are always on a Saturday and except for those casting an absentee vote, the whole country gets to vote in one day with little hassle at all! Does the UK have one day to vote, Ray?

Tony

[tashabear]

Is it true that voters are queuing for hours to cast their vote in the US? This must deter some would

-be voters. The US electoral officials should come up with a way to make it less of a headache for their citizens to participate in electing a candidate. Down here our elections are always on a Saturday and except for those casting an absentee vote, the whole country gets to vote in one day with little hassle at all! Does the UK have one day to vote, Ray?

Tony

Well, yeah, but according to figures I've found, Tasmania only has 485,300 people. There are more people that that just in the city of Boston. The population of Australia is just over 20 million; there are just over 6 million in the tiny Commonwealth of Massachusetts alone. Our population is just denser.

The early voting thing is new, too, and I get the sense that they weren't really set up for it. Also, those long lines are in major population centers in the states that allow early voting.

There are only 72,000 people in my small city, many of whom are not citizens, so they can't vote anyway. The city is divided into 6 districts, so that's only 12,000 people to get through my polling place over the course of 13 hours (7am to 8pm) -- less than 1,000 an hour, assuming everyone is eligible to vote. (I'd wager that maybe half the people on my street are eligible to vote; the rest are resident aliens.) We're planning on going over around 10am, and don't anticipate it taking more than an hour, if that. (I'm going to bring a book and a snack, though, just in case.)

The media is doing what the media does: reporting a story about a few locations and making it sound like you'll need to pitch a tent in order to vote on election day. For the vast majority of Americans, it just won't be that bad.

[tonyc1]

Well, yeah, but according to figures I've found, Tasmania only has 485,300 people. There are more people that that just in the city of Boston. The population of Australia is just over 20 million; there are just over 6 million in the tiny Commonwealth of Massachusetts alone. Our population is just denser.

The early voting thing is new, too, and I get the sense that they weren't really set up for it. Also, those long lines are in major population centers in the states that allow early voting.

There are only 72,000 people in my small city, many of whom are not citizens, so they can't vote anyway. The city is divided into 6 districts, so that's only 12,000 people to get through my polling place over the course of 13 hours (7am to 8pm) -- less than 1,000 an hour, assuming everyone is eligible to vote. (I'd wager that maybe half the people on my street are eligible to vote; the rest are resident aliens.) We're planning on going over around 10am, and don't anticipate it taking more than an hour, if that. (I'm going to bring a book and a snack, though, just in case.)

The media is doing what the media does: reporting a story about a few locations and making it sound like you'll need to pitch a tent in order to vote on election day. For the vast majority of Americans, it just won't be that bad.

We are actually almost 500,000 now according to recent stats, and our birthrate was the highest for about 20 years, last year. Where we have to go to vote is only about 1 mile away for both state and federal elections.

Tony.

[ferret]

Just one day for voting over here, turnout is around 61-65% as a lot of us can't see any difference between the main partys. No problems with hanging chads as we use tried and trusted technology (making an X in pencil on the ballot paper).

[tashabear]

We are actually almost 500,000 now according to recent stats, and our birthrate was the highest for about 20 years, last year. Where we have to go to vote is only about 1 mile away for both state and federal elections.

Tony.

Right, and my polling place is only half a mile from my house. The town where I grew up, though, had only 4000 or 5000 people, and the polls were at the high school, in the cafeteria. We had a half day of school that day, so we didn't need to use it. I can't really remember any lines at all, though there may have been at the end of the workday -- lots of people trying to vote on their way home.

You see what I'm saying, though. You have fewer people on your island than I have in the capital of my state, 35 miles from where I sit this very moment. So yeah, we're going to have lines, and this year we may have a bumper turnout, as this election has been extremely polarizing. And while the waits may be excessive in some areas, in the vast majority of the United States, I doubt it will be that bad.

[whinewine]

I will be so glad when it's all over. In our state (which is one of the 'battleground states') the tv ads, robocalls, full page newspaper ads... ad nauseum, are SO nasty, SO inaccurate, SO flat-out-lying-wrong, SO divisive, SO mean spirited... I've NEVER seen it this awful, even during the height of the vietnam era. It's terrible in its childishness- over the weekend a local GOP official was arrested for stealing Obama signs from peoples' yards. Churches are getting into the looney game & threatening moral sanctions for those voting for the 'wrong' candidates

(BTW, whatever happened to Jesus' admonition to "give to Caesar that which is Caesar's and give to God that which is God's"??? It seems that this is no longer a part of Church teaching anymore.)

I've even seen reports where on Halloween, children were turned away from houses by people if they said their parents supported the 'wrong candidate'... what kind of country have we become, to make children cry & go away empty handed on trick or treat night because of their parents' beliefs???

I will be so glad when it's all over. Whoever makes it is going to have one hell of an uphill battle just on the economy alone.

[Washroad]

I will be so glad when it's all over. In our state (which is one of the 'battleground states') the tv ads, robocalls, full page newspaper ads... ad nauseum, are SO nasty, SO inaccurate, SO flat-out-lying-wrong, SO divisive, SO mean spirited... I've NEVER seen it this awful, even during the height of the vietnam era. It's terrible in its childishness- over the weekend a local GOP official was arrested for stealing Obama signs from peoples' yards. Churches are getting into the looney game & threatening moral sanctions for those voting for the 'wrong' candidates

(BTW, whatever happened to Jesus' admonition to "give to Caesar that which is Caesar's and give to God that which is God's"??? It seems that this is no longer a part of Church teaching anymore.)

I've even seen reports where on Halloween, children were turned away from houses by people if they said their parents supported the 'wrong candidate'... what kind of country have we become, to make children cry & go away empty handed on trick or treat night because of their parents' beliefs???

I will be so glad when it's all over. Whoever makes it is going to have one hell of an uphill battle just on the economy alone.

This election is getting really ugly. I voted absentee ballot a month ago (I'm permanent absentee).

We have a proposition on the ballot here in California, prop 8. If passed, it would make marriage heterosexual only as right now gays can marry here. Down the street, gay couple, No on Prop 8 signs in their yard. Get stolen often, then their car got defaced with spray paint. Not right regardless of how you feel about the proposition. Thank heaven it'll be over in a day or so.

Personally, I think both of the "major" party candidates suck. I think most of the USA feels the same. Each election it's not getting to vote for someone you really like, it's who sucks the least (lesser of the two evils). Gawd, I'm starting to sound like my parents!!

OK, I'm getting ready for my Thanksgiving trip! That's an American holiday that's in November. We usually get together with our friends out in the desert and everyone brings something for the feast. I'm the turkey/stuffing guy. I cook the turkey by burying it in the sand in hot charcoal for 6+ hours. It's so tender/juicy when I can finally dig it out that I don't need a knife to carve it, just put a fork in the breastbone and pull the meat off!

So, with almost 30 people for dinner, the side dishes get pretty inventive! And there's always too much!

AND YOU'RE ALL INVITED!

[/b]

[celticleather]

I'm still a bit baffled by the fact that some people in the US have to wait for hours to cast their votes.

In the UK, each of our constituencies (there are 646 constituencies) is divided into smaller 'wards', and each of these has its own polling station, or sometimes more than one. People drift in throughout the day, collect their polling slips, mark their 'X' in pencil, place the slip in the voting box, and off they trot.

Is the US system too technological, or do they not have enough polling stations? I understand that many people in the US vote in advance, and we have a similar system which uses postal voting, but this has been proved to be vulnerable to abuse.

One thing's for sure . . . if the UK ever tried computerised or online voting, it would collapse at the first fence! We manage to spend waste millions of pounds on new systems - everything from passport issuing to air traffic control and the health service - and nothing ever comes up to expectations. We're better off with pencils and paper!

[Jordan]

There are a few things that bother me about the voting thing #1 the electoral college really irks me, individual vote doesn't seem to be part of the equation. #2 the money involved in getting elected could be used to really help alot of people instead of lining the pockets of the uber-elitist few. #3 Politico's in general are not in it to help anyone except themselves, maybe their original motives were good but once they taste the gravytrain it is all about staying in office at all costs, no matter what party. #4 a lot of religious organizations have strayed way too far from the word, they should concentrate on spreading the good news to the world, instead of installing espresso machines in the lobby. Just a few thoughts on this history making election day.

[UKRay]

I'm still a bit baffled by the fact that some people in the US have to wait for hours to cast their votes.

Y'know that puzzled me too - I have just been watching the news and the lines of people are the longest I have ever seen. I'm not sure voters would stand it over here - they'd all go home for a cup of tea and a moan!

You are quite right about the pencils and paper, CL, like it or not we British are very good at being low tech. LOL