Did I miss something?

[Tangerine LaBamba]

I've been voting in Presidential elections for a long time, and it's only recently the lines to vote have appeared, that is, in the last few years. I don't remember lines in 2000, but that might just have been my particular voting place.

In 2004, there were the messes in Ohio, and lines in some places.

But now, even with early voting, the lines are interminable, and the waits are absurd.

Why is this happening? Am I missing something terribly obvious?

[lob1]

1. Think Karl Rove.

[HopeFor2006]

2. In early voting you do not vote at your own precinct

That means everyone who wants to vote early in any given county has to go to the same place.

[gmoney]

3. early voting concentrates voters...

for example, in Ohio, instead of polling stations at dozens of precincts in each county, early voting is conducted only at the Board of Elections at the county seat...

that doesn't explain the long lines ON election day... that is due to insufficient resources allocated to "urban" and other democratic areas by Republican secretaries of state... hopefully with Ohio's democratic governor and SOS, the lines should be reasonable on Tuesday

[Webster Green]

4. It's a republican conspiracy.

Well planned to fuck up the voting in dem-leaning districts.

The perps should be hanged when we get our country back.

[Happyhippychick]

5. Computerized voting is a longer more complicated process. It takes voters longer to vote

and since the machines are expensive there are only a limited number.

This slows down the process.

[qwlauren35]

6. Yes. The poll watchers are dying off...

There can only be polls if there are poll watchers. And a lot of them are in their 70's and 80's. Places are understaffed. That's reason #1.

Everyone who has ever had a computer knows that they crash. So, for a row of 20 computer voting terminals, there will be 3 down constantly. And each time it happens, there will be a voter who had not finished, and many people will be freaking out. That's reason #2.

Reason #3 is that more Americans are voting. Voter turnouts for the last 3 elections have been very high. Not to mention, we have more Americans.

Those are the ones off the top of my head.

[99th_Monkey]

8. Just this fact alone (that e-voting machines EVER "crash" at all) should be enough

to get our paper ballots back. WTF? The whole rational for them was they are supposedly more "efficient" but clearly
that is not the case. So what happens when an e-voting machine "crashes" .. that normally means that all the data so
far collected is erased or destroyed, no? Grrrrrr!! :mad:

[MrsBrady]

7. there ARE more voters....but....

i think they are also under supporting polling places...

in other words...not enough machines, not enough recruiting of new poll workers,..etc...

so I think it's both a combo of MORE VOTERS and LESS machines/poll workers

imo