People On Twitter Explain How American Voting Works And People From Other Countries Can’t Believe It
Voting is done differently around the world. There are different systems of voting whereby either the popular vote wins or voters decide on reps who decide on the winner and whatnot.
But then there’s also the process of voting—where do people go, how do they cast their vote, and, most importantly, how long will it take. Well, the last one, turns out, is in HUGE contrast when it comes to the US and the rest of the world.
Apparently, Americans spend countless hours queuing and waiting for their turn to enter the voting booth and to cast their vote, whereas the rest of the world spends around as much time voting as one would spend waiting for the barista to make and deliver their coffee at Starbucks.
The internet is left surprised with how long Americans have to wait in line just so that they could vote
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So, since it’s voting season in the US, a lot of Americans are sharing their considerably extreme voting experiences on Twitter. And then there’s Europeans and everyone else sharing their complete opposite experiences.
Turns out, people in the US often stand in line for hours, and I do mean literally hours
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A number of US citizens shared how they stood in line for two hours at the very least to a whopping eleven hours just so that they could vote. Talk about dedication to your country!
While some stand in line for about 2 hours, Johnta Austin had to do so for a whopping 11 hours!
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Here’s what a typical voting line looks like as shown by one Twitter user
And it doesn’t matter what weather it is either—people are committed
This prompted a response from people from other countries around the world: Canada, France, Germany, Spain, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, and others. It turned out, the amount of time citizens of these countries spent partaking in the voting process was around three minutes. At worst, it was fifteen minutes. See the stark contrast here?
More specifically, in Sweden, it was three minutes because there was a senior in a wheelchair in the queue; in France, hardly no waiting time and no more than 10-people queues; in Canada, no more than two minutes; in Australia, where voting is mandatory, no more than three minutes. The list goes on and on.
It wasn’t long until someone asked the question—how long does voting take outside of the US?
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Many internauts from Europe, Australia, Canada, Mexico and other places responded with the opposite of what US voters experience
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So, why are Americans practically breaking records with their queuing to vote? The short answer seems to be the lack of resources (polling locations, voting station employees, etc.) to deal with the huge demand.
The longer answer, though, is “it’s complicated.” Besides the fact that too many people show up and there aren’t enough polling stations and people managing them, there’s also the long voting process within the ballots, technical problems, lack of polling station staff training, underfunding of election administrations, and a number of other small problems that make up one huge issue.
For the most part, the average voter outside the US spends around 2–3 minutes and no more than 20 voting
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Though, interesting to think, but some say that the long lines aren’t all that bad. It is said to be a celebration by those who endure them—it is a sign of patriotic enthusiasm. Others do think it’s more a form of sadism rather than a celebration, but nobody’s judging if it works for people.
What are your thoughts on this? Tell us your voting experience in your country in the comment section below!
Anyone would think that someone was trying to make it difficult to vote. And, as this is not a new thing, just a made much worse by Corona and Trump's bully boy tactics thing, it seems to be endemic in the system. So someone must be benefitting from it.
It's sad that my relatives live in a country where owning firearms is a right, voting is a privilege and health care is a luxury.
Considering that number one and number three are related, and number two is part of the process deciding both (either directly or through the people we elect to represent us).
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You can get healthcare in this country even if you don't have insurance. It's actually a little cheaper than going through an insurance company. I have insurance for life from a previous job. My son has no insurance but he does have a payment service he uses for paying his medical bills (the doctor sends the charges to the service, he gets billed in monthly payments). We have had the exact same tests run by the exact same doctor at the exact same time. His test cost less than half what mine cost because there was no insurance company to deal with. Hospitals also have a fund for people who don't have insurance to help them pay their bills. Sometimes they even have billing services to help. Anyone who thinks they have no access to medical care here has never tried to find out just what is available to them.
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You obviously don't know what you are talking about. Voting and gun ownership are rights. Healthcare was fine until ObamaLama came up with his socialist plan that screwed everyone. If you want to discuss the real issues you can start with the outrageous costs of medical care not medical insurance. I have hospital invoices from surgery and 1 tylenol was billed at $1500, a surgical staple $1100 each, then the surgeon, anesthetist, mri reader and the list goes on all get billed separately. So people should be attacking the insanity of Dr's seeing you for 2 minutes so that they can overbook appointments and the average bill to see a Dr for 2 minutes is about $90 - $150. Labs and blood work cost extra. Attack the medical PAC's that influence Washington, Attack the drug companies raping people with prices 5000% higher than production costs of the drug. btw Our elected officials get taxpayer provided 1st class healthcare coverage because they know ACA they forced on us sucks.
D Bailey love
lindawalker511 +
D Bailey follower
federicobenini ?
What are they even queueing for? What's going on that makes such a big queue? Is it only one polling centre for loads of people? I usually rock up, show my polling card, get a ballot slip, cross anything but Tory and chuck it in a box. 2 minutes tops.
Republicans have made efforts in recent years to reduce the amount of polling stations in particular in regions with many minorities, among many other things they do to make voting more difficult.
John Edgar Werner Philips haha
This year, we are literally voting for our lives. The office of prez is up for grabs as well as the Senate and House. Donald Trump* is our current president. Some people illogically adore and worship him, unquestionably. Others, like myself, are disgusted by his use of the gov't coffers as his own personal slush fund, the con jobs, the lying, the racism and xenophobia. We are also very discouraged about his handling of the Corona Virus. He has no plan except for a vaccine in an unknown number of years. Mr. Biden was President Obama's Vice President. He knows how to deal with politicians on the other side of the aisle, instead of arguing with them. He has class, dignity and intelligence, which we are sorely lacking in the US right now. So when we say vote blue we want the dems to win (Mr. Biden's party), red is the republican party who have abdicated their responsibility to the country. Choosing instead the desire for power and money.
Jaybird3939 easy
Yes, it is only one polling center for loads of people. In TX the Republican Governor decreed there only be one drop box for mail-in ballots per county. Some counties are over 1,500 square miles (over 4500 sq km).
LOL, under an article with primary sources showing how difficult voting is in places with reduced polling locations, D Bailey asks for proof sources. Who are we gonna believe, him or our lying eyes?
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@John Edgar Werner Philips your reply is a complete fraud and grossly inaccurate. The individual States control the number and location of polling stations. Your ignorance is just mind boggling that you would even think let alone believe the BS you post. btw Please produce some proof sources that support your ignorant comments since voting is hardly difficult. Unless getting off your lazy butt and driving to polling stations which are always located close to the address you used when you registered.
Someone is benefiting from voter suppression, yes. This is what Trump said about a Democratic proposal to expand early voting and vote by mail: “They had levels of voting that if you ever agreed to it, you'd never have a Republican elected in this country again.”
One might even conclude that as both parties have shared the white house fairly equally for most of the past hundred years that they're all as bad as one another, all playing the same game, and that this is exactly how it is intended to be. Feels bad that you can't blame it all on a manufactured boogeyman, but rather must blame it on the real boogeyman, who is as often as not your hero.
The pictures of people lining up for hours to vote in the USA always shock me. I am hugely impressed with their determination, but appalled at what the have to endure. I'm a dual citizen and have voted in both Canada and in the UK and have never waited more than 5 minutes to vote.
Yeah, they’re between a rock (queuing for hours) and a hard place (another 4 years of this regime and possibly losing democracy, according to people who have survived autocracies). F**k voter suppression so incredibly hard.
Julie C Rose love
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regime? a regime does not allow peaceful protest,a regime does not allow free press a regime does not allow opposition either you have no idea what a regime is or you are willinlgy using a term which does not apply in this case but u still use it because it fits your narrative....if you would like to know what a real regime is pls go ask cubans north koreans venezuelans or chinese defectors to learn what a real regime is have a nice day
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The first way anyone ever loses their democracy is when they lose their freedom of speech. Tell me, which side keeps using the hate speech excuse to limit the freedom of speech?
Just FYI, this does not happen EVERYWHERE in the U.S. I have never had to wait in line to vote where I live. In the places where this happen, people need to work to change the local/state decision-making on voter accessibility.
Jamma do u live in an all white neighborhood, maybe that's why you are able to vote quickly.
jevais yes
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This whole article is BS. Most polling stations get you in and out in less than 5 minutes. Been voting since the 1960's and never waited in line longer than a few minutes.
My state votes by mail, so no waiting in line for me.
Yettichild like
Yettichild love
Use to be max, 10 minutes, maybe. This is disgraceful. Pretty much red states in order to keep them red. Red states among some of the poorest in the country, yet they keep voting in their tormenters.
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You win for the most ignorant comment on the internet today. "Red states among some of the poorest in the country" is stupidity at a whole new level and easily proven inaccurate.
Unfortunately, voter suppression is alive and doing very well in the US. Texas has limited drop boxes for ballots to 1 per county regardless of population. Some counties have over a million people. Georgia was so badly gerrymandered (re-arranging voting boundaries to favor one party) at one point, it wasn't considered a Democracy. Also, the Secretary of State was in charge of an election that he was participating in. The manipulation of voters is to discourage them from voting. This year it's backfired. That's why these long lines exist. People are determined to show their power and not let this obvious voter suppression fly. GO JOE!
1 ballot box for a million people? that is not democracy. I live in a small town, we had 4 ballot boxes for 1,200 people, and we didn't que at all. I walked in, got my voting paper, they gave me a pen (mine to keep) and I voted. I didn't even bring anything with me, it's all provided. No ques, no cops, no problems.
It's 1 drop off mail location per county. Harris county in Texas (which includes Houston) has nearly 8 million people. However, there are hundreds of early voting locations and anyone can vote at any location state wise until election day. On election day, you must vote at your registered location which could have a voter log of 10,000+ voters. Also, many states are refusing to count ballots from mail in voting after election day. The news is reporting that if you plan to vote by mail, it must have been mailed today to get in on time or your vote doesn't count. But apparently America is home of the free LMAO
In Texas they limit mail in voting to people over 65 or disabled. I was able to vote by mail this year because I am disabled. My husband dropped off my ballot for me when he voted and it only took him about 30 minutes and most of that was trying to get the poll workers to understand that he was dropping off my ballot and wanted to vote himself. They kept telling him he couldn't vote twice. I've voted in every election since I've been eligible to vote and it's never taken more tha 10 minutes. I have major respect for anyone who waited hours in line.
Mike Ward easy
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It's not one ballot box per million. I live in Leander, Texas. For EARLY VOTING ONLY, you can either mail in your ballot, drop it off at the ONE LOCATION PER COUNTY, or go to a polling location (one per precinct) and cast your ballot. A precinct has roughly 250,000 people and early voting lasts for 10 days. If everybody in a precinct is eligible (which they aren;t, because children do exist) and everybody votes only during early voting (which they don't), and everyone decides to do it in person rather than mailing or dropping off their ballots (which they don't), then each polling location would still only have to handle 2,500 a day. Open for ten hours a day, that would be 250 people an hour. I saw about 20 voting machines at my polling location, so that would mean that each machine would have to accommodate 1 person every 6 minutes. Very reasonable. Keep in mind, these are all exceedingly generous numbers and the absolute worst assumptions, and still reasonable.
Eric Steward +
That is just unbelievable. Population of my town in Finland is about 120 000 and we have 31 places to vote on the day. Then there's the prevoting booths, hundreds all over the country and anybody can vote in any of them. The longest I've wated was 5 minutes and that was because of few elderly people who had truble walking, usually I just walk in.
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It's unbelievable because jaybird3939 is posting pure BS. Not a single fact in his post.
gerrymandered?? Is that legal?? What the f**k Man.. How could you get a fair democracy when you manipulated the voter?
Yup, only drop off location for Harris county is at NRG stadium. I early voted on a Saturday evening to avoid the lines. My district stretches from the NASA area, then a thin sliver down the coast and includes almost all of Beaumont, Orange, and Port Arthur. Not sure how that makes any sense.
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Except they sold everyone on this mail in ballot thing, so in reality if you believe to be suppressed at voting, you probably want to get all the different factions who sold that mail in thing and complain to them and their terrible planning.
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Jaybird3939 you're proof that ignorance is bliss. Your statements are fraudulent at best. Texas has not limited drop boxes to 1 per county that's your 1st lie and Texas has very few counties with a population of 1 million. Yet I can drag you through 100's of counties where polling stations deal with population counts of 5000 or less and 100's of towns with populations numbering in the hundreds. So in summary you are full of S%$T ! lol I live in a Texas county with 15K people and we have documented 17 polling stations open on election day and open until Oct 30th for early voting.
Sweetie, not talking about polling stations. I'm talking about drop off ballot boxes. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott issued a proclamation Thursday limiting the amount of drop-off locations for mail-in ballots to one site per county. Harris County is the largest by population with 3.8 million residents. On to Georgia: In 2011, Georgia Republicans gained full control of redistricting for the first time and immediately began gerrymandering Democrats out of power. Ms. Abrams, a black woman, lost the race to Kemp, who was Secretary of State at the time Abrams had alleged throughout the campaign that Kemp, who stepped down as secretary of state after the election, had been working to disenfranchise minority voters, deny or delay new registrations and purge voting rolls (which he did). So, I believe you owe me an apology. Secondly, I would not do your research for you, but since you accused me of being ignorant, a liar, and a fraud, I thought I would show you how the real world is.
Anyone would think that someone was trying to make it difficult to vote. And, as this is not a new thing, just a made much worse by Corona and Trump's bully boy tactics thing, it seems to be endemic in the system. So someone must be benefitting from it.
It's sad that my relatives live in a country where owning firearms is a right, voting is a privilege and health care is a luxury.
Considering that number one and number three are related, and number two is part of the process deciding both (either directly or through the people we elect to represent us).
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
You can get healthcare in this country even if you don't have insurance. It's actually a little cheaper than going through an insurance company. I have insurance for life from a previous job. My son has no insurance but he does have a payment service he uses for paying his medical bills (the doctor sends the charges to the service, he gets billed in monthly payments). We have had the exact same tests run by the exact same doctor at the exact same time. His test cost less than half what mine cost because there was no insurance company to deal with. Hospitals also have a fund for people who don't have insurance to help them pay their bills. Sometimes they even have billing services to help. Anyone who thinks they have no access to medical care here has never tried to find out just what is available to them.
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
You obviously don't know what you are talking about. Voting and gun ownership are rights. Healthcare was fine until ObamaLama came up with his socialist plan that screwed everyone. If you want to discuss the real issues you can start with the outrageous costs of medical care not medical insurance. I have hospital invoices from surgery and 1 tylenol was billed at $1500, a surgical staple $1100 each, then the surgeon, anesthetist, mri reader and the list goes on all get billed separately. So people should be attacking the insanity of Dr's seeing you for 2 minutes so that they can overbook appointments and the average bill to see a Dr for 2 minutes is about $90 - $150. Labs and blood work cost extra. Attack the medical PAC's that influence Washington, Attack the drug companies raping people with prices 5000% higher than production costs of the drug. btw Our elected officials get taxpayer provided 1st class healthcare coverage because they know ACA they forced on us sucks.
D Bailey love
lindawalker511 +
D Bailey follower
federicobenini ?
What are they even queueing for? What's going on that makes such a big queue? Is it only one polling centre for loads of people? I usually rock up, show my polling card, get a ballot slip, cross anything but Tory and chuck it in a box. 2 minutes tops.
Republicans have made efforts in recent years to reduce the amount of polling stations in particular in regions with many minorities, among many other things they do to make voting more difficult.
John Edgar Werner Philips haha
This year, we are literally voting for our lives. The office of prez is up for grabs as well as the Senate and House. Donald Trump* is our current president. Some people illogically adore and worship him, unquestionably. Others, like myself, are disgusted by his use of the gov't coffers as his own personal slush fund, the con jobs, the lying, the racism and xenophobia. We are also very discouraged about his handling of the Corona Virus. He has no plan except for a vaccine in an unknown number of years. Mr. Biden was President Obama's Vice President. He knows how to deal with politicians on the other side of the aisle, instead of arguing with them. He has class, dignity and intelligence, which we are sorely lacking in the US right now. So when we say vote blue we want the dems to win (Mr. Biden's party), red is the republican party who have abdicated their responsibility to the country. Choosing instead the desire for power and money.
Jaybird3939 easy
Yes, it is only one polling center for loads of people. In TX the Republican Governor decreed there only be one drop box for mail-in ballots per county. Some counties are over 1,500 square miles (over 4500 sq km).
LOL, under an article with primary sources showing how difficult voting is in places with reduced polling locations, D Bailey asks for proof sources. Who are we gonna believe, him or our lying eyes?
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@John Edgar Werner Philips your reply is a complete fraud and grossly inaccurate. The individual States control the number and location of polling stations. Your ignorance is just mind boggling that you would even think let alone believe the BS you post. btw Please produce some proof sources that support your ignorant comments since voting is hardly difficult. Unless getting off your lazy butt and driving to polling stations which are always located close to the address you used when you registered.
Someone is benefiting from voter suppression, yes. This is what Trump said about a Democratic proposal to expand early voting and vote by mail: “They had levels of voting that if you ever agreed to it, you'd never have a Republican elected in this country again.”
One might even conclude that as both parties have shared the white house fairly equally for most of the past hundred years that they're all as bad as one another, all playing the same game, and that this is exactly how it is intended to be. Feels bad that you can't blame it all on a manufactured boogeyman, but rather must blame it on the real boogeyman, who is as often as not your hero.
The pictures of people lining up for hours to vote in the USA always shock me. I am hugely impressed with their determination, but appalled at what the have to endure. I'm a dual citizen and have voted in both Canada and in the UK and have never waited more than 5 minutes to vote.
Yeah, they’re between a rock (queuing for hours) and a hard place (another 4 years of this regime and possibly losing democracy, according to people who have survived autocracies). F**k voter suppression so incredibly hard.
Julie C Rose love
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regime? a regime does not allow peaceful protest,a regime does not allow free press a regime does not allow opposition either you have no idea what a regime is or you are willinlgy using a term which does not apply in this case but u still use it because it fits your narrative....if you would like to know what a real regime is pls go ask cubans north koreans venezuelans or chinese defectors to learn what a real regime is have a nice day
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
The first way anyone ever loses their democracy is when they lose their freedom of speech. Tell me, which side keeps using the hate speech excuse to limit the freedom of speech?
Just FYI, this does not happen EVERYWHERE in the U.S. I have never had to wait in line to vote where I live. In the places where this happen, people need to work to change the local/state decision-making on voter accessibility.
Jamma do u live in an all white neighborhood, maybe that's why you are able to vote quickly.
jevais yes
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This whole article is BS. Most polling stations get you in and out in less than 5 minutes. Been voting since the 1960's and never waited in line longer than a few minutes.
My state votes by mail, so no waiting in line for me.
Yettichild like
Yettichild love
Use to be max, 10 minutes, maybe. This is disgraceful. Pretty much red states in order to keep them red. Red states among some of the poorest in the country, yet they keep voting in their tormenters.
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You win for the most ignorant comment on the internet today. "Red states among some of the poorest in the country" is stupidity at a whole new level and easily proven inaccurate.
Unfortunately, voter suppression is alive and doing very well in the US. Texas has limited drop boxes for ballots to 1 per county regardless of population. Some counties have over a million people. Georgia was so badly gerrymandered (re-arranging voting boundaries to favor one party) at one point, it wasn't considered a Democracy. Also, the Secretary of State was in charge of an election that he was participating in. The manipulation of voters is to discourage them from voting. This year it's backfired. That's why these long lines exist. People are determined to show their power and not let this obvious voter suppression fly. GO JOE!
1 ballot box for a million people? that is not democracy. I live in a small town, we had 4 ballot boxes for 1,200 people, and we didn't que at all. I walked in, got my voting paper, they gave me a pen (mine to keep) and I voted. I didn't even bring anything with me, it's all provided. No ques, no cops, no problems.
It's 1 drop off mail location per county. Harris county in Texas (which includes Houston) has nearly 8 million people. However, there are hundreds of early voting locations and anyone can vote at any location state wise until election day. On election day, you must vote at your registered location which could have a voter log of 10,000+ voters. Also, many states are refusing to count ballots from mail in voting after election day. The news is reporting that if you plan to vote by mail, it must have been mailed today to get in on time or your vote doesn't count. But apparently America is home of the free LMAO
In Texas they limit mail in voting to people over 65 or disabled. I was able to vote by mail this year because I am disabled. My husband dropped off my ballot for me when he voted and it only took him about 30 minutes and most of that was trying to get the poll workers to understand that he was dropping off my ballot and wanted to vote himself. They kept telling him he couldn't vote twice. I've voted in every election since I've been eligible to vote and it's never taken more tha 10 minutes. I have major respect for anyone who waited hours in line.
Mike Ward easy
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It's not one ballot box per million. I live in Leander, Texas. For EARLY VOTING ONLY, you can either mail in your ballot, drop it off at the ONE LOCATION PER COUNTY, or go to a polling location (one per precinct) and cast your ballot. A precinct has roughly 250,000 people and early voting lasts for 10 days. If everybody in a precinct is eligible (which they aren;t, because children do exist) and everybody votes only during early voting (which they don't), and everyone decides to do it in person rather than mailing or dropping off their ballots (which they don't), then each polling location would still only have to handle 2,500 a day. Open for ten hours a day, that would be 250 people an hour. I saw about 20 voting machines at my polling location, so that would mean that each machine would have to accommodate 1 person every 6 minutes. Very reasonable. Keep in mind, these are all exceedingly generous numbers and the absolute worst assumptions, and still reasonable.
Eric Steward +
That is just unbelievable. Population of my town in Finland is about 120 000 and we have 31 places to vote on the day. Then there's the prevoting booths, hundreds all over the country and anybody can vote in any of them. The longest I've wated was 5 minutes and that was because of few elderly people who had truble walking, usually I just walk in.
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It's unbelievable because jaybird3939 is posting pure BS. Not a single fact in his post.
gerrymandered?? Is that legal?? What the f**k Man.. How could you get a fair democracy when you manipulated the voter?
Yup, only drop off location for Harris county is at NRG stadium. I early voted on a Saturday evening to avoid the lines. My district stretches from the NASA area, then a thin sliver down the coast and includes almost all of Beaumont, Orange, and Port Arthur. Not sure how that makes any sense.
This comment has been deleted.
Except they sold everyone on this mail in ballot thing, so in reality if you believe to be suppressed at voting, you probably want to get all the different factions who sold that mail in thing and complain to them and their terrible planning.
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
Jaybird3939 you're proof that ignorance is bliss. Your statements are fraudulent at best. Texas has not limited drop boxes to 1 per county that's your 1st lie and Texas has very few counties with a population of 1 million. Yet I can drag you through 100's of counties where polling stations deal with population counts of 5000 or less and 100's of towns with populations numbering in the hundreds. So in summary you are full of S%$T ! lol I live in a Texas county with 15K people and we have documented 17 polling stations open on election day and open until Oct 30th for early voting.
Sweetie, not talking about polling stations. I'm talking about drop off ballot boxes. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott issued a proclamation Thursday limiting the amount of drop-off locations for mail-in ballots to one site per county. Harris County is the largest by population with 3.8 million residents. On to Georgia: In 2011, Georgia Republicans gained full control of redistricting for the first time and immediately began gerrymandering Democrats out of power. Ms. Abrams, a black woman, lost the race to Kemp, who was Secretary of State at the time Abrams had alleged throughout the campaign that Kemp, who stepped down as secretary of state after the election, had been working to disenfranchise minority voters, deny or delay new registrations and purge voting rolls (which he did). So, I believe you owe me an apology. Secondly, I would not do your research for you, but since you accused me of being ignorant, a liar, and a fraud, I thought I would show you how the real world is.