People not voting because of long lines

Lilwonders, I honestly believe that this country needs one of two ways to vote now that our population has become as large as it is. The first and I believe most likely to become our norm is the internet. We can pay taxes, buy almost anything and communicate with almost anyone via the internet, why not be able to vote that way too. I believe it could be made fraud-proof and would be much more inexpensive than what we do now. Of course there will be those who don't want or can't afford internet or computers but that would be very few and we could have thos vote at the courthouse or schools as we do now without the high cost that we have now. The other way would to make the general election every four years an national paid holiday, which would end or lessen last minute lines and probably increase voter turnout. It could also be moved to a weekend which might do the same thing.

I just pray that they have seats as I have back problems and cannot stand for hours but I shall do my best to wait it out.

I just do not understand long lines. With the ability to early vote and absentee vote so if you know that the place you vote is going to be busy, vote before November. If you are one that decides to vote at the last minute then guess what you get to wait in line. Basically like Christmas shopper, some will be smart and buy the gifts early and then you have the last minute shopper. If you will wait in line and deal with all of the other last minute shopper then you can stand in line and wait to vote. I have no pity for these individuals.

I think it's a good thing that so many people feel that it's important to vote. I do, however think the system is extremely flawed where you have to wait that long to vote. How long does it take? I live in Canada, and you go into your polling station, show your id, they mark you off a list, and are given your ballot, walk in, mark it, and boom done in 30 seconds. What the heck is the hold up? I have to be honest, I don't think I would wait in line for 8 hours.

There will be a lot of people who can't, because of work commitments, wait that long to vote and will have to leave without voting. It is my understanding, however, that if you are in line at the time the polls are to close, they have to let you vote, so it may take several hours after the close of the polls to get through the lines that are waiting.

yes, why don't we, be patient about it, voting is our right. it only happens every 4 years and yet youl'll just give up if the line is long. lets face it polling places are not that big to support a barangay to vote. long lines will be created as the voting begins. let's make it a habbit that every voting day will lend our time just to wait for the line to be finish in order to vote.

I agree that people need to try to be as patient as possible because this is an extremely important election not just for the USA; but for the rest of the world as well. I do think though that they could learn to plan things a lot better if these are the types of waiting periods some people will have to experience. Why could they not hold the voting over the two days of the weekend or something? One third of voters have apparently already submitted their ballots via mail and other early voting methods too but I hope that the remaining two thirds doesn't become too jaded by the delays and will hang in there!

I'm actually not surprised that people are giving up and leaving. One it just tells me that people are really taking this election seriously and are wanting to get out there and vote which is great! However, people could have voted early and a lot of people have, but many more could have voted a long time ago and solved this problem. And, since the lines are so long, maybe people shouldn't plan on doing anything important, bring something along to entertain themselves and just relax. This is a very important election and everyone needs their chance to vote.

There have been elections in which the winner received the electoral votes required to take the election early in the evening and the opponent conceded before all the results were tallied, but I don't see that happening this year.

I must admit to being very surprised by the idea that people in your country are even having to queue up to vote, let alone for four hours or more. In Britain, we never have to queue up to vote, and as far as I know our voter turnout in elections is similar to yours. It sounds like you don't have anything like enough polling stations - any idea what the typical area of coverage is. Round here, each polling station probably caters for an area covering one or two square miles, I should think (inner city - it would be a wider area in the countryside, of course).

Well hopefully the ones that are leaving were voting for Obama anyway. But I agree this is something that we can wait for. I am excited. I cant wait for tomorrow. We get to vote and then sit in front of the TV for hours to see who wins. YAY ! Go McCain

Voters just need to be patient. they need to let their voice be heard by casting their votes. it is their right and responsibily as a citizen of the country . This is just one of the things that they can do for the conutry.

There is a lady in my state who was complaining this morning that she drove 2 hours to another city yesterday to vote. The early voting ended at 4pm and she states that they would not let her vote because she arrived at 4:01. I am wondering why someone would drive 2 hours to cast their vote in another city. Aren't you supposed to vote at the nearest polling location to where you live? I have heard of other voters voting multiple times because they have voter registration cards from areas where they used to live as well as their current location. That may be part of the problem with the long lines. I hope they have some type of method in place to screen out all the illegal votes.