Anyone seen or voted at some interesting voting locations? I know that schools, churches, and city hall tend to be popular locations. However, my mother voted this afternoon which I voted the previous week, and the voting location was... the community room at the nearby medical center. To be fair, I voted there pre-Covid, and it's nice to have that close location available again. Imagine trying to convince certain people to go to the hospital just to vote!
Of course, I remember voting in a local election, and, due to the voting area, the polling place was in someone's garage. This was over two decades ago.
I voted once at an abandoned store in a mostly abandoned mall in Overland Park, KS.
I've never voted in person in Colorado.
I had a voting location in a park shelter.
Once when I was little, I went with my mom to vote in a municipal golf course pro shop.
In Lawton our early voting setup is usually at the Comanche County Courthouse. They're anticipating larger than usual turnout, so this time it's being set up in the Great Plains Coliseum Annex Building at the Comanche County Fairgrounds.
Fire departments seem to be increasingly popular in NY. The state seems to be moving away from schools as polling places, and the church that was mine is no longer a polling site (although others still are). Of the nine early voting sites in my county (one of which is also my regular polling site for Election Day), three are fire departments, two are churches, and the remainder are the Albany County Board of Elections, Celtic Hall, the Colonie Village Recreation Center, and the Guilderland Public Library.
My longtime voting place in my town was a fire department. It was consolidated with another department, but the building continued to be used for voting. We got a notice a few weeks ago that due to code violations and health hazards, it couldn't be used for voting this year. We'll be going to the township's large community center, which was already a voting place for a few other districts in town.
I have never voted in-person, but have filled out my ballot from a variety of modes of transport: onboard a light rail car, at the airport terminal, on a state ferry, and while riding Amtrak.
I remember when I went to college, my dorm was a polling place one year. I was told the basketball arena was as well.
My current polling place is the local Masonic hall.
I once voted in a primary at Bonnie Brae Church of Christ in Henrico County. Both major parties were having their primary at the same time. The Republican primary polling place was in the church's sanctuary. The Democratic primary polling place was in a classroom that was filled with religious figures and paintings and had an open Bible nearby. I thought about reporting them for voter intimidation but decided it wasn't worth it.
Here in Fairfax County, if you go to vote in a primary, you go to the particular polling place regardless of the primary in which you plan to vote and you just tell them which party's ballot you want. Presumably the machine that reads them uses the barcode at the top to tell the software how to tabulate it. (We now use paper ballots that you fill in just like the standardized tests most of us grew up taking in school, except that we aren't required to use a #2 pencil. We then feed the ballot into a machine that is at least as big as a commercial-grade office shredder. Hmm.....)
For those unfamiliar with Virginia, we do not register by political party and anyone can vote in either party's primary subject to the proviso that you can only vote in one party's primary per election. So, for example, you could vote in the Democrat presidential primary one cycle and the Republican presidential primary in the next cycle.
Quote from: 1995hoo on October 29, 2024, 12:19:24 PMyou go to the particular polling place regardless of the primary in which you plan to vote and you just tell them which party's ballot you want
In Michigan, both parties' candidates are on the same ballot in a primary, and you are told to vote in only one party.
Quote from: GaryV on October 29, 2024, 12:41:01 PMQuote from: 1995hoo on October 29, 2024, 12:19:24 PMyou go to the particular polling place regardless of the primary in which you plan to vote and you just tell them which party's ballot you want
In Michigan, both parties' candidates are on the same ballot in a primary, and you are told to vote in only one party.
In Wisconsin too. The first item on the primary ballot is which party you will be voting in.
Quote from: Big John on October 29, 2024, 12:44:54 PMQuote from: GaryV on October 29, 2024, 12:41:01 PMQuote from: 1995hoo on October 29, 2024, 12:19:24 PMyou go to the particular polling place regardless of the primary in which you plan to vote and you just tell them which party's ballot you want
In Michigan, both parties' candidates are on the same ballot in a primary, and you are told to vote in only one party.
In Wisconsin too. The first item on the primary ballot is which party you will be voting in.
Here in Appleton, WI, all of the local polling places throughout my lifetime were usually in schools or churches. My current 'election day' polling place is a church rectory (in the door, up the short flight of stairs, down the short hallway, past the cardboard cutout of Papa Francisco and there is the polling room). I have also never had to declare to the poll workers any party affiliation for partisan primaries (one of the beauties of not registering by party, a Wisconsin thing). I can also 'early vote' at the city clerk's office on the sixth floor of Appleton's city hall, but the wait time was 1 to 1.5 hours each of the several times that I tried that route this election.
Mike
My county used to have little voting houses out in the rural areas. They weren't much bigger than an outhouse. We had 11 or 12 precincts; a few precincts shared a location and others used publicly-accessible buildings.
As those buildings aged and fell into disrepair, the county used little trailers that they'd haul to the various sites, but there were ADA compliance issues with them.
Starting in 2020, we did away with precincts and shifted to "voting centers" with a smaller number of locations. You can show up to any voting center in the county and when your registration status is checked, your precinct's ballot is loaded into the computer. This is highly unpopular and voters are clamoring to go back to the precinct system with more locations.
Philadelphia tries very hard to make sure there are lots of polling places, so occasionally they end up putting a polling place in someone's house. The list of polling places for 2024 (https://vote.phila.gov/media/2024_GENERAL_POLLING_PLACES.pdf) includes two places that are just "RESIDENCE" followed by a street address, and also one "GARAGE" followed by a street address. I vaguely remember that there used to be polling places in bars as well but I don't see any; I do see a few places with "RESTAURANT" or "CAFE" in the name. And while I looked for "BAR" in that list I found some barber shops.
In Nevada, you can vote at any polling place within your county, so Clark County mails out a list of them (which is printed in Clearview for some reason). There are 135 polling places in Clark County this year, some of the more interesting being:
- Allegiant Stadium (the Las Vegas Raiders stadium)
- RTC headquarters (the organization that runs the bus system in Clark County)
- In a tent out front of two Las Vegas Athletic Clubs (a chain of low-cost gyms). I think this is pretty clever, because there are probably people who figure what the hell, I'm here working out anyway, might as well vote before/after.
There is also a list of places that are not polling places, I guess because they were in the past but aren't this year. On that list is a random Lowe's in North Las Vegas.
Most of the polling places are at schools, libraries, senior centers, and community centers. Notably, none of them seem to be churches, as far as I can see. I guess it would be kind of odd to vote for who you want to be Mayor of Sin City in a church.
^^ any in wedding chapels?
Quote from: Big John on October 29, 2024, 06:00:24 PM^^ any in wedding chapels?
No, and surprisingly none in casinos, either. I suppose that's because Las Vegas Blvd. mostly caters to tourists, so there is no need for a polling place there (and the few people who actually live in that area can use Allegiant). I was sort of expecting one of the locals casinos to have a polling place, but it seems like the schools/libraries/community centers do the job well enough.
Quote from: miclugo on October 29, 2024, 04:49:28 PMPhiladelphia tries very hard to make sure there are lots of polling places, so occasionally they end up putting a polling place in someone's house. The list of polling places for 2024 (https://vote.phila.gov/media/2024_GENERAL_POLLING_PLACES.pdf) includes two places that are just "RESIDENCE" followed by a street address, and also one "GARAGE" followed by a street address. I vaguely remember that there used to be polling places in bars as well but I don't see any; I do see a few places with "RESTAURANT" or "CAFE" in the name. And while I looked for "BAR" in that list I found some barber shops.
I think a previous law required all bars in PA to be closed on Election Day, so it would be possible for a bar to be a polling place without drinks being served.
*awaits someone boasting about Indiana's accessibility for voting* </s>
I voted this year at the La Porte County Fairgrounds in La Porte.
The first time I voted back in 2020 was at the Annex Building of La Porte County (La Porte County Annex and Security Center).
Having polling stations at sports venues doesn't surprise me, since in my hometown when there's an election most of them are set up at sports halls.
Quote from: hbelkins on October 29, 2024, 03:59:17 PMStarting in 2020, we did away with precincts and shifted to "voting centers" with a smaller number of locations. You can show up to any voting center in the county and when your registration status is checked, your precinct's ballot is loaded into the computer. This is highly unpopular and voters are clamoring to go back to the precinct system with more locations.
I'm not surprised, that sounds really inconvenient for anyone who lives in more remote areas.
Quote from: jeffandnicole on October 29, 2024, 06:47:30 PMQuote from: miclugo on October 29, 2024, 04:49:28 PMPhiladelphia tries very hard to make sure there are lots of polling places, so occasionally they end up putting a polling place in someone's house. The list of polling places for 2024 (https://vote.phila.gov/media/2024_GENERAL_POLLING_PLACES.pdf) includes two places that are just "RESIDENCE" followed by a street address, and also one "GARAGE" followed by a street address. I vaguely remember that there used to be polling places in bars as well but I don't see any; I do see a few places with "RESTAURANT" or "CAFE" in the name. And while I looked for "BAR" in that list I found some barber shops.
I think a previous law required all bars in PA to be closed on Election Day, so it would be possible for a bar to be a polling place without drinks being served.
https://www.phillymag.com/news/2014/11/04/bars-used-closed-election-day-pennsylvania/ - bars were closed on Election Day until 1973. Bars that make less than 30% of their revenue from food and non-alcoholic beverages were closed until 2001. It looks like many states had similar laws in order to make it harder to trade drinks for votes.
Kentucky prohibits the sale of alcohol while the polls are open (6 a.m.-6 p.m. local time on Election Day).
Quote from: hbelkins on October 30, 2024, 02:42:48 PMKentucky prohibits the sale of alcohol while the polls are open (6 a.m.-6 p.m. local time on Election Day).
Repealed statewide in 2016 - now each county decides whether to prohibit or not.
https://www.uky.edu/electionlaw/analysis/fear-and-loathing-election-day
When I was a teenager in Memphis our voting location moved several times. Once it was in the clubhouse of a municipal golf course (alcohol sales were prohibited until the polls closed, which royally ticked off the golfers). Another time it was in a fraternity house for Memphis State University (this was not an Animal House-type building, it was a converted dormitory). When I moved to Louisiana my first voting location was in someone's garage. Where we live now it has been in a couple of churches and schools, but we always do early-vote now in the parish council office.
There was a TV series called How the States Got Their Shapes and on one episode, the host went and voted at someone's house in California. Just a regular house that people were living in.
Quote from: mgk920 on October 29, 2024, 02:18:54 PMQuote from: Big John on October 29, 2024, 12:44:54 PMQuote from: GaryV on October 29, 2024, 12:41:01 PMQuote from: 1995hoo on October 29, 2024, 12:19:24 PMyou go to the particular polling place regardless of the primary in which you plan to vote and you just tell them which party's ballot you want
In Michigan, both parties' candidates are on the same ballot in a primary, and you are told to vote in only one party.
In Wisconsin too. The first item on the primary ballot is which party you will be voting in.
Here in Appleton, WI, all of the local polling places throughout my lifetime were usually in schools or churches. My current 'election day' polling place is a church rectory (in the door, up the short flight of stairs, down the short hallway, past the cardboard cutout of Papa Francisco and there is the polling room). I have also never had to declare to the poll workers any party affiliation for partisan primaries (one of the beauties of not registering by party, a Wisconsin thing). I can also 'early vote' at the city clerk's office on the sixth floor of Appleton's city hall, but the wait time was 1 to 1.5 hours each of the several times that I tried that route this election.
Mike
I finally 'early voted' this afternoon at the Appleton city clerk's office, there was no line to speak of and was in and out in 15-20 minutes. No pain and no hassles.
:nod:
Mike
When I voted in 2016 the polling was held in the old, old, old high school gymnasium at the ISD administration HQ that used to be the high school.
I had never seen a 50-foot basketball court before that actually held regulation games back in the day. But I was told since then that some schools play in old WPA rock gyms today that are still like that.