This was the second episode of our series on the 2020 election. Over 15,000 of you told us which issues mattered the most to you, and we made 9 episodes explaining what the election meant for those issues: 1) Climate change: ruclips.net/video/QfAXbGInwno/видео.html 2) Voting rights: ruclips.net/video/al3qY8ZMHEc/видео.html 3) Reproductive health: ruclips.net/video/Bzuk13Ftxgo/видео.html 4) Public schools: ruclips.net/video/lFJ37ri-Saw/видео.html 5) Police reform: ruclips.net/video/SHePglP28CM/видео.html 6) America’s role in the world: ruclips.net/video/S5LrQv496Iw/видео.html 7) Transportation: ruclips.net/video/-ZDZtBRTyeI/видео.html 8) LGBTQ rights: ruclips.net/video/xRnpUptf7E0/видео.html 9) The eviction crisis: ruclips.net/video/F07yTI0J3Qk/видео.html Thanks to everyone who responded to the callout and took the time to help make our reporting and our videos stronger.
@@olmaz99 I support Socrates's way to define demos. It is not discriminatory since being uninterested in how the state is run is not a protected class.
US became a continental giant tht it is today by adding territory for over 100 years which is very unique in world history...and its problems today are a result of tht spectacular success...
I’m in Florida. When I lived in a heavily democrat populated area, the lines were ridiculous. Now that I live in a “red” county, the lines are so short. I can go in and out in less than 2 minutes. It’s not a coincidence at all
Also the audacity to call "outdated" information unconstitutional, as if the constitution wasn't designed to be completely rewritten every 100 yrs and is thus outdated itself, making the constitution unconstitutional by their word 🤦♂️
Truth Hurts we choose those people you call elites. We also have a plethora of parties to choose from, not just right and centre and we don’t have any queues to be able to cast our votes, we just mail it.
@@josh100CH oh yeah you do, you choose them from a list of prechoosen candidates, all of those candidates were already hand picked by their party's elites. I am in no way saying it is bad, but it is definitely less democratic to do it that way. And obviously you don't have lines at your primary's you don't even have primaries. This video was all about the lines at a primary vote.
To all the people that waited hours to vote, thank you. Your votes mean a lot, and we need more people like you. Stay safe, and thanks again for contributing an important role to making our society a better place.
True, people should be encouraged to make the effort/sacrifice even if it means losing a whole day's worth of your salary and paying a babysitter/dogsitter. I hope people DOCUMENT their experiences and observations while waiting in line for hours outside in the November weather, and that people who need to go use the toilet will be allowed to return to their spot in the line. And that people wear face masks for protection. And that people who live far away from their designated polling station will be offered a ride if they don't have a car.
@@jacobclements3652 I am a centerist I agree with Donald Trump on stuff and Bernie on other stuff so I wouldn't have voted anyway. However on the bright side other people will vote so my one vote doesn't really make a difference anyway.
Some people (me) work on Sunday. Also I believe voting day should be a national holiday.. but even then, some people would still need to work on that day (some jobs have to work through holidays like Christmas etc)
@Enzo DiMasi " Make Election Day a day where people aren't working AND make sure no one has to wait for more than 20 minutes to vote. Also, automatic voter registration. " That would be nice, but it would largely disenfranchise Republican voters...or, at least, it would mean that they lose more of the elections. EDIT: For clarity, this is a joke. I think that the Republicans *should* lose more of the elections if the only way they can win is to cheat.
I live in Houston, TX. I voted in that line at University of Houston. That line was my line. People were having to choose between skipping classes, skipping tests, or staying to vote. Can confirm, it's nuts down here, and to pretend it's just a "coincidence" is absurd.
@@dondp7500 depends on the area of Houston you are in. Most people don’t realize Houston and it’s County (Harris) as well as surrounding suburbs is bigger than the ENTIRE state of Rhode Island. The Houston metropolitan area has a population greater than 5 states combined iirc. So most of your democratic vote is centered around the inner city then radiating southwest and some to the east. The suburbs however are a bit more republican leaning due to White flight etc. To compare my wait to vote as well, to the University of Houston. I live in NW Harris County just outside of the Houston city limits. My early voting location had 26 machines (voting is done digitally here now (it can load any ballot and you can vote ANYWHERE in Harris county early voting locations as long as you are a resident). My wait was non-existent. I literally walked in, showed my ID and voted. This is probably because I live in a majority white and republican area.
Aren’t you guys allowed to vote early? I voted early in Miami and the line was a few minutes long. Voting early is so much easier than going on Election Day.
Meanwhile in Germany I vote on a Sunday, have around 8 hours of time to go voting, only have to go around 1km and when I get there can usually just vote immediately
Yeah but see, Germany isn't the "world's greatest democracy!" In a _real_ democracy like the US or China, you should be happy to line up for 14 hours to vote for your favorite of the two hand-picked sycophants we provided!
It's the same for me. Polling place is 400 meters away, and voting takes a couple of minutes in total. All this on a Sunday; no need to take a day off from work.
A German here, asking himself how on earth this is even a thing that is necessary in a country in which many citizens constantly claim it'd be "the best in the world". The supreme court judge basically saying "yeah we know that voting in some of our states isn't fair" has me going like "What?? And that's just a normal thing that everyone more or less accepts?"
Americans are told since their cradle that they are "the best in the world". Years later, when they need to vote, accepting this slogan was just a lie would create a too strong cognitive dissonance, hence the denial.
@Jeffrey Faucette That's the same attitude that many African Americans had to their plight and lot in life up until the 1960s. But those are not the ones who eventually made history and helped reform the country. Complacency, fear, and laziness won't achieve anything. Society is slowly transforming, and by voting and supporting causes that matter to you you can (safely and anonymously!) be a tiny part of that movement.
Republicans about 15-20 years ago began systematically and very quietly replacing sitting judges with judges owned by them. In all states, cities and local areas, at all levels of government. This happened because people like to vote and be all involved in Presidential elections but too often fail to care or vote in local, municipal or state elections. Judges were simply elected by default on our part, by design on the part of Republicans. Not many Americans realize this.
Best in the world land of dreams my left foot, basic democracy 101 does not even exist in America it is a hoodwink system where treachery of the people is turned into rules and regulations. Imagine not even being allowed to take food or water to vote where you will be standing for possibly 6 hours that is a useless country.
Yeah I'm English and I've always literally just walked in and voted. However, we have had some issues like this, including in Sheffield where they made students queue while fast tracking locals...
I'm in Canada. We get a voter card in the mail that recommends a place nearby where you can vote (church, school, library, etc). You just bring that card, or an ID that shows your address, and you're done. Longest time spent in line? 10 mins.
@@grantrowland1998 Nobody should be forced to give up their ID. It's simply just another tool used by the government to put obstacles to disenfranchise voters.
@@user-xt3xn2hl4e Err ... for the rest of the world. We use our ID to identify ourselves(duh), otherwise what's the point of ID if even the government can't use it to identify anyone?
Democracy is really a sham in many Western countries it is heavily skewed towards two dominant parties with many voters having their opinions ignored by the system.
If you look at campaign funding and who wins the presidential race it's a pretty straight forward correlation. The person with the most funding always wins, doesn't sound terribly democratic to me
The reason why the United States is not a democracy is due to the adoption US Constitution. The US would be slightly more democratic had it kept the Articles of Confederation.
A lot of the problems in the American system can be traced back to how old the US constitution is, older than any other written constitution still in use.
@@peppermintchapstic I feel as if it's always amplified for black Americans as well. Especially black voters, because Trump gets votes for actively hating black people, but Biden gets them by pretending to like them. Even those in the Democratic party who are supposed to care about black people in this country don't.
lking1540 ...Your government making you wait for hours just to vote is treating you "fairly?" Sorry to hear you have such low standards for how you should be treated.
@@The_infomer There's 70-90% support among the population for Universal Healthcare, Free College, Gun Licenses, Abortion Rights, Higher taxes for the rich, ... So yes, the government is way more right-wing than the population.
The literacy tests in the 20th century had basically nothing to do with whether you could read or write and had more to do with just being time wasters. For example you would have 10 mins to complete the tests and there would be a lot of questions. And the questions were incoherent ramblings like " circle the fourth word in the third sentence in the first paragraph ". And you had do do this sort of thing over and over. The makers of the test knew it couldn't be done in the prescribed time limit and so they could turn people away
The Republicans are in a real jam. Their base is primarily old and white and that demographic is becoming a smaller and smaller fraction of the country as time goes on, but Republican policies have so badly alienated the rest of the country that it's almost impossible for them to add new demographics to their supporters. Since they can't increase their own side's vote count, the only way for them to stay in power is to decrease the other side's count. Gerrymandering and voter suppression are the primary tools for doing that.
Australia: longest line I've encountered is 20-30 people from getting there to leaving the polling station 1/2 hour. Full paper vote ( transferable rank ) Rep's 9 candidates, Senates 15 of 120 candidates) P.S. eligibility Australian citizens, 18+, 3 month resident at address or designated address for transitory persons. Public holiday & employers must give 4 hour leave for employees to vote.
Don't forget about the sausage sizzle and cake stalls at the polling places in Australia...I spent more time eating a snag roll then waiting in the queue to vote
USA: I will do everything to uphold our freedom and our democratic principles Also USA: You can vote only if I you vote for me, if not then you can't vote *Ironic*
@@ZephLodwick That's not the full explanation. Canada also uses FPTP voting and is stuck in a (mostly) two-party system, but we don't express anything close to the same level of vitriol toward each other that our American counterparts do (its sadly been increasing in recent years, primarily thanks to Trumpism invading our country, but its still nowhere near as bad as the US.)
Limiting the number of voting opportunities is an old Republican (racist) trick. I grew up in Livonia, Michigan, a largely conservative suburb of Detroit. After the 1972 election I was sent down to City Hall to get voting records for the previous 5 presidential elections. More booths for GOP districts, fewer in Democratic precincts. Almost all polling places were in Elementary school gymansiums. What we noticed was in Democratic precincts the booths were positioned near the door, so people had to line up outside, there were significantly fewer booths per voter. Also, where there were parking lots, the GOP precincts let voters park in them. Democrats? the street. It usually rained on November election days in Detroit. So a Democrat going to vote had trouble parking, had to stand in a line, outside in the rain. We live in a very sick country. People are lied to, and those who won't go along with the lies are having their votes taken away. I don't know if the conservatives have noticed but the protest is moving into their neighborhoods.
@@isabellayoung3129 there are voting stations all over the place (in the Netherlands)! In schools, near train station all over the place and you can choose were you want to vote in your city. I had like 4 places to vote within a mile of my house. I can only vote in local elections because I'm not dutch (yet) but when my husband goes it also takes no time.
IANAL, but technically, there simply isn't a federal election. All you have is local (read: statewide) elections who this state sends to represent it in Washington. It's every state on it's own, it's own representatives, its own senators, its own electors in the EC.
The constitution gives the right to manage voting exclusively to the states. That is why voting has different rules in each state. I don’t know what it is like for other places but I know here in East TN we have like 3 weeks of early voting where you can walk in a vote. Doing this normally means that voting takes only takes like 10-20min max. Just curious what is early voting for you guys.
Simple: Long queues are there to make it as hard as possible for Democrats to vote. It is because the Republicans know higher turnout means more Democrats vote and lower turnout means Republicans win.
Nobody wonders that. The left see it as obvious and the right are intentionally oblivious. The only thing we wonder is how the right can make their claims with a straight face.
The U.S. constitution has been updated dozens of times, and people today cite the amendments way more often than the original articles. Further, constitutions are meant to be living documents, so it actually isn't totally ridiculous to say that an outdated one is unconstitutional, because it would no longer be doing the job of a constitution at that point.
Since the primaries are run by each individual party they don't always have the same system so they cannot always happen on the same machine or location. For the general election however, it is always on the same machines in one location.
@@grantrowland1998 if you're getting in trouble in Europe for saying what's on your mind you must have some really horrible things on your mind. I also dont need a gun as I feel really safe all the time 👍
@@__ethan__ No, it's not. You could even argue the USA isn't a first world country, just a very wealthy developing one, since it's the only western nation without universal health care, no social support system, where the 3 richest people have more capital than the poorest half of its population, where 1 in 40 adults is incarcerated, and where there are more guns than people.
@@bobby7703 Given that the USA ranks #45 on the Press Freedom Index, that means there's 44 countries with freer speech, like Burkina Faso, Ghana, Jamaica, the UK, and Canada. Furthermore, the USA is #23 on the Corruption Perceptions Index, so besides not having "the best freedom of speech", it's also far from the least corrupt.
Getting 320 million people to agree on a change of power without total mayhem is unprecedented. If our ancestors knew we would be able to accomplish this they would be in awe. It's truly a miracle and it's sad that people take it for granted.
@@j.e.bennett2997 The Westminster parliamentary system used in most Commonwealth countries? Combined with ranked choice voting, we'd have a paradise here in Canada. Ireland uses something closer to this locally. Maine already uses ranked choice iirc, and isn't far away from this system.
acchaladka acchaladka I cannot get to your main argument without first asking how a Westminster Parliament govt is better than a Presidential govt.This is exactly why we fought the Revolutionary War. We do not want to bow down to a Monarchy and kiss the Queens ring. I am NOT an expert on UK based govt in the world. So please first explain this to me b/c I don’t know why anyone would want a Family to have the final say as opposed to a 2 term / 8 yr. (max) President ? I would love to debate you because you seem to have some intelligence. But are you open minded enough to 1) have your mind changed 2) not get mad and resort to name calling and shut down debate (I AM NOT SAYING YOU ARE ANY OF THIS - ONLY ASKING) I am open to debate and open to changing my mind if convicted
@@The_infomer Yet the 2nd most populated country in the world didn't have such problems. Never mind that the US didn't have such problems (or at least not to the same extent) 30 years ago. These are manufactured problems, primarily by the Republican party. But of course the Republican party doesn't think its a "problem" when Democrat voters are suppressed -- _they're_ perfectly happy to become a one-party system like China. You can vote for whichever of our hand-picked sycophants you like! Democracy!
@@The_infomer I understand what you're saying but why does India, the largest democracy in the world, have no issue with lines? Seems to be an American thing if you ask me.
@@The_infomer This is not a scaling issue. Just use more places to vote. There is no logical requirement that a nation of 15 million, 80 million and 300 million people all have to use exactly the same number of voting districts.
Each passing day, my hope in America is being lost. What is the point of democracy if the people in the country have laws to not vote and why are there separate voting booths for the two parties? Also, isn't the judiciary supposed to be separate from politics? If the parties jet to chose what laws to enact, isn't it just a broken judiciary?
But these aren't national elections. They're all state level elections. I'm not even sure that Congress could pass a law that would be constitutional to put these elections under federal jurisdiction.
@Enzo DiMasi So in the primaries the Democrats and Republicans vote seperatly for their candidates to establish who will run in the general election? And I guess, if one was enrolled for the Democrats they couldn't vote on who the candidate for the Repulican would be?
In India, voting is divided over a period of 4 Weeks... Yes, 4 Weeks! The nation is divided into 7-8 areas and voting is done n different dates. It is absolutely electronic. Law makes it mandatory (Fundamental Duty to cast vote) for a citizen over 18 to vote. Also, law makes it compulsory to have voting place less than 5KM (abt 3.12 miles) from any citizen of India living anywhere! India has one of the highest voter turnout (abt 80% or more) and has LESS than 15 minutes waiting time AT MAX. 🇮🇳
America is such a rich country that wants to close polling booths, while India is still a developing country and wants like literally everyone to vote without any burden. For poor, for uneducated, we have a polling booth at a maximum distance from 2km from any given house, cause only when you vote, can you change your country.
In 2016, the Trump campaign actually tried to sue my county for leaving a polling place past 7pm on Election Day, claiming that they let new people join the line (they didn't). The polling location in question was in a hugely Latinx area, in one out of two counties in the state that regularly go blue. Considering it's a swing state, disregarding the votes in that area could've had a huge effect on the state's electoral votes.
It took me 4 -5 hours to vote for president in 2008. I was 7 months pregnant and was told I could not leave the line to sit in a chair or go to the bathroom without losing my place by the poll workers. Luckily the other voters were kind and let me take breaks as needed without losing my place or I would not have been able to vote. This is not a new issue, or even an issue after the changes to the voter rights act. All states need oversight.
I've never had to wait more than 2 minutes to vote (I'm in Canada). I can't imagine waiting in lines this long. How hard is it to set up more voting stations? Almost every church, temple, school, community centre, etc. around here is set up to be a voting station. They even have them in old folks homes so they can easily vote!
It's hard when your district uses costly voting machines. OTOH, if the district uses the optical reader system, you only really need 1-2 readers per precinct, and you can set up as many voting booths as the room allows.
@@crucisnh Yeah, that makes sense. I think it would be easier if the ballots were just paper, like ours, and plenty of voting stations and employees/volunteers to count them. Old ladies (the most trustworthy members of society imo) are usually the ones to count the vote :P
@@marzipanmango Oh, our ballots are on paper. (Well, hard paper, but still paper.) And if you had to, you could still count them by hand. But the "fill in the bubble" style using the optical reader system is really pretty simple, and still leaves you with a paper record.
It is not hard to set up voting stations, this is done on purpose so that Blacks and working class Dems voters suffer doing their civic duty many will not even bother voting because of how difficult it is.
Wait, you have to vote at different stations? It’s supposed to be anonymous! Anonymity, free press, etc. are some of the most important pillars that democracy needs in order to succeed
Every time I hear more about the American system I’m more amazed.... negatively Won’t say we have a perfect system but at least we have about 13 parties or so to choose from in the Netherlands 🇳🇱 which gives a way better representation. It also allows new parties to rise and fall, and forced the government to collaborate in order to have a majority coalition. Having a prime minister instead of a president allows for more stability and less radical changes by the power of one single person. Not to forget that voting is easy on walking distance from (almost) everybody’s home (there’s even mobile voting stations driving around in less densely populated areas) you don’t need to register yourself (as everybody who’s allowed to vote is automatically allowed to vote) and you can even give somebody else permission to vote in your place if you can’t make it. (Let my mother vote a few times when I was in the wrong city on the voting day)
@@Loren42 the machines could/should have both ballots and only give you the ballot of your party per the card that you are given to insert into the voting machines. That is what has always occurred when I have used machines, but more often I had a paper ballot to mark and then put in the ballot machine to be tallied.
@@EpwnaExeter Yes, they could. My point is that, contrary to what NvWest wrote above, the process in a primary is never anonymous as to which party you select. The parties don't have to have separate machines (I frankly think that's poor election design), but there IS a record, a public record in fact, of which party's ballot you selected.
@Enzo DiMasi Why don't they integrate both parties in one system, it's simpler, fairer and does not expose your political choice publicly? It does not seem to be a purely voter-oriented decision.
In India in our last election(2019) we had 916 million registered voters of which 67% voted. It's mandatory for our election commission to place a poll booth within 2km distance of a voter. We are imperfect in many ways but when it comes to democracy we give everyone their chance. I think Vox made a video on it too!
What sort of a system has separate machines for separate parties? Why not have one machine for all that allows you to vote for any party? Stops the problems with interfering with either parties supporters ability to vote, also allows you to keep your vote private if you want to and finally makes discrimination much harder to do without it being obvious with the closure of voting booths in heavily minority populated areas
To be clear, that was for a primary election, not the main presidential election. Primaries are used to decide who the candidate will be in the presidential election. The primaries in 2020 as an example were mainly between Biden and Sanders once many other candidates dropped out.
Oh my God, this can't be true! It's a wonder people don't all go home. My city in Germany, where I live, has 60,000 inhabitants. There are a total of 52 polling stations in the city during elections, there are no queues and no waiting times for voting. Americans, resist, the mighty want to take away your right to vote!
I cannot begin to say how absurd this all is. Largest democracy in the world my @ss! We have many many problems in Brazil but voting is not one of them. Almost 150 million voters choose their candidates in one single day and the longest line I’ve ever taken was a 15 minute one. Oh, did I mentioned that we use voting machines and the results are known the day after Election Day?
At last election in Rio de Janeiro, there were people who didn't vote because of the long lines, many voting polls were closed due to lack of funds. So, yes, our voting rights are better than in the USA. But I wouldn't brag about it too much. There are places where the candidates can't ask for votes on the streets because of the criminals that control the area. Having less knowlegde of one's options because of the interest of a certain group is a kind of voter supression. Not to mention that there is always a talk about making voting optional, which is supposedly to gives us more freedom, but is actually about disencouraging "certain" "less councious" people from voting. That in my opinion would turn against the very people who think like that. Non-mandatory voting makes voting seems like a privilege, not a right. It is the original sin of voting suppression, in my opinion. By the way, I am from Rio. 😭
@@jansojele289 Some people, including me, aren't from the US, therefore they don't know all the details of your electronic/constitution. So it helps to understand what's going on inside your country.
Voting lines are almost unheard of in Canada. It blows my mind to hear of a Voting location being open till 1 am, or waiting 1 hour or in some cases multiple hours to vote!? I think I waited 20 min once??? but normally I'm in and out in 5-10 min.
It took me 2 minutes in the UK to vote. Go to the church 30 seconds away. Turn up, go in, tell my name, ask security question, no ID needed, they give paper, I vote, go home.
That part was about a primary election, not the general election. So people can only vote in the party election they are registered in (depending on the state some states have open primaries where you can choose wich party primary you want to vote on).
Texas has open primaries as talked about with the separate machines. What this allows is that anyone can vote in either parties’ primary, but not in both. Once in the general election all the machines are together regardless of party. And the city and county for Houston are allowing people to vote at ANY open polling location in the city even on Election Day.
How can you have 2 lines? Isn't voting private in de USA? We vote alone behind a curtain with all nominated candidates on the ballot here in the Netherlands.
As a poll worker, you can always vote by mail, and it's preferred. Its much more efficient for both voters and government. Closures save local counties money that can be used for a lot of good things. Perhaps informing how you can vote rather than how you can't vote would be better vox.
What??? Voter suppression affects black Americans??? And poor neighborhoods??? Oh, I didn’t know that at all. 😮 **sarcasm** This video is obviously targeted towards a White America so out of touch with minority communities. Not saying that’s a bad thing though, they ought to be empowered by this content!
It's scary that this was allowed to happen. In my area it took them 5 years to move the polling place for local elections a 5 minute walk around the corner - they still haven't been able to move the polls for national votes, even though using that polling place results in 200 children missing a day of school!
In Switzerland every person who is swiss citizen and over 18 years old gets a letter some weeks in advance to vote by mail or take it to the polling station. No supression, no signing up, no waiting in a line. It's simple as that.
In Mississippi, my grandmother lived in segregated Jackson. She said both whites and blacks paid poll taxes at the poll and took literacy tests. But, white voters got the answers on a separate sheet and black voters were left to guess. Along with all this, polling stations themselves were segregated and “equal”
The US really need to sort out their long lines It makes people not want to vote In the UK, the polling stations have little/no lines so it takes under 5 minutes to vote It’s so much better. Loving the content Vox!!
Seperate but (un)equal. In the South they have a multitude of ways to keep Blacks subservient and impoverished and to convince them that it's their own fault for not voting, for not going to college, for not moving to a nicer neighborhood, for not raising their kids right, for not eating healthy enough, for not obeying police officers' demands, etc etc.
As an American, I don’t think I’ve ever spent more than 15 minutes in line to vote, the key is to do early voting and come early in the morning or later in the evening. The ID laws aren’t difficult either as there are multiple different types of ID (driver’s license, passport, gun license, etc) that are acceptable. Yes some politicians engage In shifty schemes to make voting more of a burden and clowns like Trump and Stacey Abrams spread discontent by claiming everything is rigged, but another part of the problem is people don’t understand the rules or pay any attention to political issues. Ultimately, it’s not too hard to vote if you pay attention and do it right go vote it’s your duty as a citizen
At this point I'm just trying out that literacy test 2:24 for anyone who wants to have a go themselves. Why is this more interesting than the rest of the video?!
I would love it if we could have a long list of names of the republicans who voted to put these undemocratic, voter suppression laws in place. Just to have.
They should do what Disneyland does: have a sign that shows the approximate wait time at each location, as well as an app that shows which locations have different wait times.
@Jacob K. They actually DO have a website for just that. It lets you see all the early voting locations, their line length, hours of operation , and estimated wait.
Wait! There’s a separation of voting machine before they even got to vote? Wouldn’t that be obvious who vote for who? Isnt voting supposed to be confidential?
Just wanted to point out that the thumbnail for this video shows the people at the front of the line having a longer wait time than the people in the back. smh
India there's a law that there should be a voting booth at most 1 km from a voter... Even if you are a single guy living in the middle of nowhere the election commission will come setup the office and take your vote.
@@josuepalomares6820 yeah sure it does. But being a country of 1.3 billions results take already forever. Also elections dont just happen on a single day we have like a good 3 weeks to a month of election. Every state has a day or two for its election then results are calculated at the end
This was the second episode of our series on the 2020 election. Over 15,000 of you told us which issues mattered the most to you, and we made 9 episodes explaining what the election meant for those issues:
1) Climate change: ruclips.net/video/QfAXbGInwno/видео.html
2) Voting rights: ruclips.net/video/al3qY8ZMHEc/видео.html
3) Reproductive health: ruclips.net/video/Bzuk13Ftxgo/видео.html
4) Public schools: ruclips.net/video/lFJ37ri-Saw/видео.html
5) Police reform: ruclips.net/video/SHePglP28CM/видео.html
6) America’s role in the world: ruclips.net/video/S5LrQv496Iw/видео.html
7) Transportation: ruclips.net/video/-ZDZtBRTyeI/видео.html
8) LGBTQ rights: ruclips.net/video/xRnpUptf7E0/видео.html
9) The eviction crisis: ruclips.net/video/F07yTI0J3Qk/видео.html
Thanks to everyone who responded to the callout and took the time to help make our reporting and our videos stronger.
Thanks for the great video vox
@Covid 19 I don't really agree with them politically but they clearly worked hard to make the video
Student loan debt
I paused at 2:21 and I tried answering the questions, that was pretty fun lol
healthcare system... remember that poor people pay more and rich people get their tax cuts
What’s the point of democracy if not everyone can vote
Do u know who is Socrates?
Flashstar 123 exactly, thats why they need to change the current president. Rampant fraud is not ok
It should be compulsory then everyone can vote 18 +
@@olmaz99 I support Socrates's way to define demos. It is not discriminatory since being uninterested in how the state is run is not a protected class.
@@maureenawty6629 Compulsory isn't the solution. The group that has to be forced to vote will just tick a box so they won't be fined.
How can we as America tell other countries about Democracy, yet we dont give the same freedoms to ALL of our citizens...
well, first we open the coversation up with a reasonable, well thought out, and impassioned unmanned drone strike
It has nothing to do with democracy and everything to do with geopolitical fights over resources.
Like oil
US became a continental giant tht it is today by adding territory for over 100 years which is very unique in world history...and its problems today are a result of tht spectacular success...
@@clementello LOL - good one :)
I’m in Florida. When I lived in a heavily democrat populated area, the lines were ridiculous. Now that I live in a “red” county, the lines are so short. I can go in and out in less than 2 minutes. It’s not a coincidence at all
So...do u live in a red or blue county i am Confucius
@@johnwig285 he's saying when he lived in a city with a bunch of democrats the lines were longer than were he lives now in a republican city
Some counties use tax dollars more wisely than others.
Maybe it’s just because highly populated areas tend to be more liberal. More people means longer waits. Not everything is a conspiracy.
@@Robert-td1xm So why aren't polling places available proportionate to the the population of an area?
"it shouldn't be based on old data" *looks at minimum wage*
Absolutely....Based on current data the minimum wage should be $0.01 for the rest of eternity
Also the audacity to call "outdated" information unconstitutional, as if the constitution wasn't designed to be completely rewritten every 100 yrs and is thus outdated itself, making the constitution unconstitutional by their word 🤦♂️
@@doctorwholover1012 The constitution was designed to be rewritten by every generation for their generation -- ie: every 15-20 years.
I think the whole government should be "reset" every 100 years
@@altrag Well we need to add more amendments into our Constitution, because we are literally broken Country.
As a swiss i can only say: This is a scary situation and it's an insult to democracy.
“scary situation and insult to democracy” seems to be the national motto for us americans unfortunately
You don't even get to vote in primaries, your political elites choose your candidates for you.
Truth Hurts we choose those people you call elites. We also have a plethora of parties to choose from, not just right and centre and we don’t have any queues to be able to cast our votes, we just mail it.
@@josh100CH oh yeah you do, you choose them from a list of prechoosen candidates, all of those candidates were already hand picked by their party's elites.
I am in no way saying it is bad, but it is definitely less democratic to do it that way.
And obviously you don't have lines at your primary's you don't even have primaries. This video was all about the lines at a primary vote.
@@blondie7240
Do you Americans want to make arguments a lot?
To all the people that waited hours to vote, thank you. Your votes mean a lot, and we need more people like you. Stay safe, and thanks again for contributing an important role to making our society a better place.
True, people should be encouraged to make the effort/sacrifice even if it means losing a whole day's worth of your salary and paying a babysitter/dogsitter. I hope people DOCUMENT their experiences and observations while waiting in line for hours outside in the November weather, and that people who need to go use the toilet will be allowed to return to their spot in the line. And that people wear face masks for protection. And that people who live far away from their designated polling station will be offered a ride if they don't have a car.
These people are better than most of us me included. I'd probably give up 2 hours into the wait.
I’m not voting, I’d rather vote for no evil rather than voting for one.
And unfortunately both options happened to be horrible. Thanks.
AlexWhatever would you have voted for Bernie?
@@jacobclements3652 I am a centerist I agree with Donald Trump on stuff and Bernie on other stuff so I wouldn't have voted anyway. However on the bright side other people will vote so my one vote doesn't really make a difference anyway.
We vote on Sundays.
A national day off would help voters that have to stand in longer lines with fewer polling stations.
The law also setting a clear maximum number of eligible voters per polling place would also help.
It would also help the poor that have to work multiple jobs and may not have time.
And it would help young voters who are students who could miss mandatory instructional time or exams to go vote.
Some people (me) work on Sunday. Also I believe voting day should be a national holiday.. but even then, some people would still need to work on that day (some jobs have to work through holidays like Christmas etc)
@Enzo DiMasi " Make Election Day a day where people aren't working AND make sure no one has to wait for more than 20 minutes to vote. Also, automatic voter registration. " That would be nice, but it would largely disenfranchise Republican voters...or, at least, it would mean that they lose more of the elections. EDIT: For clarity, this is a joke. I think that the Republicans *should* lose more of the elections if the only way they can win is to cheat.
I live in Houston, TX. I voted in that line at University of Houston. That line was my line. People were having to choose between skipping classes, skipping tests, or staying to vote. Can confirm, it's nuts down here, and to pretend it's just a "coincidence" is absurd.
This
wait I'm confused... isn't the major of Houston from Democratic Party ?
@@dondp7500 depends on the area of Houston you are in. Most people don’t realize Houston and it’s County (Harris) as well as surrounding suburbs is bigger than the ENTIRE state of Rhode Island. The Houston metropolitan area has a population greater than 5 states combined iirc. So most of your democratic vote is centered around the inner city then radiating southwest and some to the east. The suburbs however are a bit more republican leaning due to White flight etc.
To compare my wait to vote as well, to the University of Houston. I live in NW Harris County just outside of the Houston city limits. My early voting location had 26 machines (voting is done digitally here now (it can load any ballot and you can vote ANYWHERE in Harris county early voting locations as long as you are a resident). My wait was non-existent. I literally walked in, showed my ID and voted. This is probably because I live in a majority white and republican area.
Aren’t you guys allowed to vote early? I voted early in Miami and the line was a few minutes long. Voting early is so much easier than going on Election Day.
Meanwhile in Germany I vote on a Sunday, have around 8 hours of time to go voting, only have to go around 1km and when I get there can usually just vote immediately
Yeah but see, Germany isn't the "world's greatest democracy!" In a _real_ democracy like the US or China, you should be happy to line up for 14 hours to vote for your favorite of the two hand-picked sycophants we provided!
@@altrag You're very funny.
It's the same for me. Polling place is 400 meters away, and voting takes a couple of minutes in total. All this on a Sunday; no need to take a day off from work.
Shut up hitler
Elias Ziad omg u owned him dude ur so edgy
A German here, asking himself how on earth this is even a thing that is necessary in a country in which many citizens constantly claim it'd be "the best in the world".
The supreme court judge basically saying "yeah we know that voting in some of our states isn't fair" has me going like "What?? And that's just a normal thing that everyone more or less accepts?"
Americans are told since their cradle that they are "the best in the world". Years later, when they need to vote, accepting this slogan was just a lie would create a too strong cognitive dissonance, hence the denial.
@Jeffrey Faucette That's the same attitude that many African Americans had to their plight and lot in life up until the 1960s. But those are not the ones who eventually made history and helped reform the country. Complacency, fear, and laziness won't achieve anything. Society is slowly transforming, and by voting and supporting causes that matter to you you can (safely and anonymously!) be a tiny part of that movement.
Republicans about 15-20 years ago began systematically and very quietly replacing sitting judges with judges owned by them. In all states, cities and local areas, at all levels of government. This happened because people like to vote and be all involved in Presidential elections but too often fail to care or vote in local, municipal or state elections. Judges were simply elected by default on our part, by design on the part of Republicans.
Not many Americans realize this.
@Jeffrey Faucette Vote for a political system that doesn't support a 3rd world country way of politics?
Best in the world land of dreams my left foot, basic democracy 101 does not even exist in America it is a hoodwink system where treachery of the people is turned into rules and regulations.
Imagine not even being allowed to take food or water to vote where you will be standing for possibly 6 hours that is a useless country.
Just when you thought gerrymandering was bad.
Gerrymandering is the highschool bully this is the school principal
I think they need oversights on everything... from the election district lines to election laws ... one thing will lead the way to another...
well you had to do your part... good thing i moved...
@Jeremy Jackson there are More people worse than him
And you thought the left telling you about how only the right does it ignoring that they do it to sweeping it under the rug was bad.
I'm Irish, and have never queued longer than a minute to vote.
Good on you.
Yeah I'm English and I've always literally just walked in and voted. However, we have had some issues like this, including in Sheffield where they made students queue while fast tracking locals...
Ok thanks for sharing
Canadian here. Maybe 5 mins. Always very quick in any election (municipal, provincial, or federal).
You also don't get to vote in primaries...
I'm in Canada. We get a voter card in the mail that recommends a place nearby where you can vote (church, school, library, etc). You just bring that card, or an ID that shows your address, and you're done.
Longest time spent in line? 10 mins.
In America it's discrimination to make someone show an id, wish we did like you do there
im in the Netherlands, and have never even seen a line.... just wow... i feel bad for US citizens
@@grantrowland1998 Nobody should be forced to give up their ID. It's simply just another tool used by the government to put obstacles to disenfranchise voters.
As an American, I’ve rarely spent more than 15 minutes in line to vote, they key is to do early voting near the beginning or end of the day
@@user-xt3xn2hl4e Err ... for the rest of the world. We use our ID to identify ourselves(duh), otherwise what's the point of ID if even the government can't use it to identify anyone?
Just another point to the list "why is the US not a democratic country"
Democracy is really a sham in many Western countries it is heavily skewed towards two dominant parties with many voters having their opinions ignored by the system.
@Christian Hernandez it tax hungry country..
USA could be the worst example when you try to convince Chinese people that democracy is great.
If you look at campaign funding and who wins the presidential race it's a pretty straight forward correlation. The person with the most funding always wins, doesn't sound terribly democratic to me
The reason why the United States is not a democracy is due to the adoption US Constitution. The US would be slightly more democratic had it kept the Articles of Confederation.
for a 200something year old democracy, us has a pretty bad system for coming up with the candidates and voting for them.
A lot of the problems in the American system can be traced back to how old the US constitution is, older than any other written constitution still in use.
Seems like the first part of your sentence answers the last part
It's actually a great system, you just have to realise what their motivations are. It's a system designed for the powerful and wealthy.
@@ravecrab23 Therefore it is not great for the US.
@@ZephLodwick true my countries constitution is from 1848. And it has changes a lot.
And I thought lining up in the school's canteen was long
↑ these are bots
Same
I used to end up returning empty hands
That's rough, buddy.
Oh....what a funny comment......;/
the US have gerrymandering first, and now this?
edit : i'm not an american but this is a little disturbing for me
Dw, theres also voter suppression, a two party system, and a plutocracy. 🤗
We might need to be recognized as a 3rd world dictatorship soon
AMEEEAARICUUUHH FUCKKKYEAAAHHH
imagine how us black americans feel
@@peppermintchapstic I feel as if it's always amplified for black Americans as well. Especially black voters, because Trump gets votes for actively hating black people, but Biden gets them by pretending to like them. Even those in the Democratic party who are supposed to care about black people in this country don't.
wow. this is actually pretty horrifying.
how
EDT: NVM I just watched the vid.
@@lking1540 I think the OP means it's horrifying that in 2020 people still aren't treated fairly.
lking1540 The whole video isn't just about the voting boxes 😅
lking1540 the closing of polling stations in areas heavily populated by POC?
lking1540 ...Your government making you wait for hours just to vote is treating you "fairly?" Sorry to hear you have such low standards for how you should be treated.
This US population is not nearly as conservative as our government.
I would like to disagree
That's weird. It's not what is clear and seen everywhere.
Maybe (just maybe) the US population is more conservative than you think.
@@The_infomer There's 70-90% support among the population for Universal Healthcare, Free College, Gun Licenses, Abortion Rights, Higher taxes for the rich, ...
So yes, the government is way more right-wing than the population.
Helgali I live in Texas in a majority white town. Most people here are democratic, and if there not they still support some democratic policies.
Tim Fischer preach 🙌
*Literacy test to vote?* If this would be implemented today, there would be significantly less Trump voters.
So bold yet so admirable...
The literacy tests in the 20th century had basically nothing to do with whether you could read or write and had more to do with just being time wasters. For example you would have 10 mins to complete the tests and there would be a lot of questions. And the questions were incoherent ramblings like " circle the fourth word in the third sentence in the first paragraph ". And you had do do this sort of thing over and over. The makers of the test knew it couldn't be done in the prescribed time limit and so they could turn people away
@@BobPantsSpongeSquare97 Did they only give these tests to black people?
Haha, depriving people of their voting rights is SO funny right??
@@BobPantsSpongeSquare97 Or guess the number jellybeans in a jar.
How slimy can these politicians get. Jesus Christ.
the power goes directly to their heads and it makes them feel like gods so they take every advantage they can to shutdown anyone they don't like
The Republicans are in a real jam. Their base is primarily old and white and that demographic is becoming a smaller and smaller fraction of the country as time goes on, but Republican policies have so badly alienated the rest of the country that it's almost impossible for them to add new demographics to their supporters. Since they can't increase their own side's vote count, the only way for them to stay in power is to decrease the other side's count. Gerrymandering and voter suppression are the primary tools for doing that.
*Republican politicians
@Callum D real slimy just wait, you aint seen nothing yet.
Australia: longest line I've encountered is 20-30 people from getting there to leaving the polling station 1/2 hour.
Full paper vote ( transferable rank ) Rep's 9 candidates, Senates 15 of 120 candidates)
P.S. eligibility Australian citizens, 18+, 3 month resident at address or designated address for transitory persons. Public holiday & employers must give 4 hour leave for employees to vote.
same here in argentina and everybody HAS to vote
India: the longest line I've encountered is 20 people....in a country of 1 billion voters
Unlike the USA, most democracies set eligibility to maximise vote & have an independent body set district & manage the election & fund the process.
Don't forget about the sausage sizzle and cake stalls at the polling places in Australia...I spent more time eating a snag roll then waiting in the queue to vote
@@ozsmiley07 the nearest one didn't have a sausage sizzle last election! Not going there ever again, I'll have to walk 500 more metres
USA: I will do everything to uphold our freedom and our democratic principles
Also USA: You can vote only if I you vote for me, if not then you can't vote
*Ironic*
Republicans
Why everything that happens in USA comes down to "Red" or "Blue"?
First-past-the-post voting.
Cuz we r unfortunately in a two party system ://
marketing... what left is white...
@@ZephLodwick That's not the full explanation. Canada also uses FPTP voting and is stuck in a (mostly) two-party system, but we don't express anything close to the same level of vitriol toward each other that our American counterparts do (its sadly been increasing in recent years, primarily thanks to Trumpism invading our country, but its still nowhere near as bad as the US.)
@freedom is not free ikr
Video: The changes had to go through federal courts
Me, who knows they're majority Republican: I know where this is going...
Limiting the number of voting opportunities is an old Republican (racist) trick. I grew up in Livonia, Michigan, a largely conservative suburb of Detroit. After the 1972 election I was sent down to City Hall to get voting records for the previous 5 presidential elections. More booths for GOP districts, fewer in Democratic precincts. Almost all polling places were in Elementary school gymansiums. What we noticed was in Democratic precincts the booths were positioned near the door, so people had to line up outside, there were significantly fewer booths per voter. Also, where there were parking lots, the GOP precincts let voters park in them. Democrats? the street. It usually rained on November election days in Detroit. So a Democrat going to vote had trouble parking, had to stand in a line, outside in the rain. We live in a very sick country. People are lied to, and those who won't go along with the lies are having their votes taken away. I don't know if the conservatives have noticed but the protest is moving into their neighborhoods.
But why is Detroit so poor ?
Thanks for sharing! This was interesting & awful to hear at the same time. Wishing you all the best, from Finland. 😊
In Germany I wait less than 30 seconds.
Same in the Netherlands!
How ?
Same in Sweden. For a country touting it's freedom so much, the US sure doesn't seem to care much about it.
@@isabellayoung3129 there are voting stations all over the place (in the Netherlands)! In schools, near train station all over the place and you can choose were you want to vote in your city. I had like 4 places to vote within a mile of my house. I can only vote in local elections because I'm not dutch (yet) but when my husband goes it also takes no time.
look at all these beautiful countries with nice laws..
and look at america lol
Quick question: Why does not *every* state receive federal oversight for a *federal* election, anyway?
Because it's a *federal* election... ? Edit: I misread original comment
@Rechordian I missed the "not" in his comment. My bad
Unconstitutional, voting is done on the state level not federal level. Hence why every state's voting laws are different.
IANAL, but technically, there simply isn't a federal election. All you have is local (read: statewide) elections who this state sends to represent it in Washington. It's every state on it's own, it's own representatives, its own senators, its own electors in the EC.
The constitution gives the right to manage voting exclusively to the states. That is why voting has different rules in each state. I don’t know what it is like for other places but I know here in East TN we have like 3 weeks of early voting where you can walk in a vote. Doing this normally means that voting takes only takes like 10-20min max. Just curious what is early voting for you guys.
Simple: Long queues are there to make it as hard as possible for Democrats to vote. It is because the Republicans know higher turnout means more Democrats vote and lower turnout means Republicans win.
And we wonder why we scream voter supression half the time
Nobody wonders that. The left see it as obvious and the right are intentionally oblivious. The only thing we wonder is how the right can make their claims with a straight face.
Outdated so therefore unconstitutional, so... the constitution is unconstitutional?
🤭 that’s some logic right there
@@kristendeiley4290 yessir
The U.S. constitution has been updated dozens of times, and people today cite the amendments way more often than the original articles. Further, constitutions are meant to be living documents, so it actually isn't totally ridiculous to say that an outdated one is unconstitutional, because it would no longer be doing the job of a constitution at that point.
"Imagine living in a country where there are separate voting places for parties."
- This post was made by European gang
Since the primaries are run by each individual party they don't always have the same system so they cannot always happen on the same machine or location. For the general election however, it is always on the same machines in one location.
Even more, imagine a country where there are only two political parties.
Imagine living in a country where you can't say what's on your mind nor own a firearm without a license
@@grantrowland1998 if you're getting in trouble in Europe for saying what's on your mind you must have some really horrible things on your mind. I also dont need a gun as I feel really safe all the time 👍
@@grantrowland1998 Imagine living in a country where only owning a gun makes you feel safe LOL
Also isn't it hilarious that America always prides itself on its "freedom" when it's literally the LEAST free first world country...
Oh it's free, but only for the people that "matter," the politicians and the rich.
Saying America is the least free first world country is a bit of a stretch, but I do get what you're trying to say
@@__ethan__ No, it's not. You could even argue the USA isn't a first world country, just a very wealthy developing one, since it's the only western nation without universal health care, no social support system, where the 3 richest people have more capital than the poorest half of its population, where 1 in 40 adults is incarcerated, and where there are more guns than people.
Name any other country with the same level of freedom of speech. Your claims are baseless
@@bobby7703 Given that the USA ranks #45 on the Press Freedom Index, that means there's 44 countries with freer speech, like Burkina Faso, Ghana, Jamaica, the UK, and Canada.
Furthermore, the USA is #23 on the Corruption Perceptions Index, so besides not having "the best freedom of speech", it's also far from the least corrupt.
....And people argue with me everyday that america isn't racist
As more ice cream is sold in a city the higher their crime rate rises. Ice cream obviously leads to more crime...
Correlation doesn't mean causation.
@Asher Samuel *Minority
Dems aren't racist.
Republicans aren't the majority.
The world greatest „democracy“
But of course
Getting 320 million people to agree on a change of power without total mayhem is unprecedented. If our ancestors knew we would be able to accomplish this they would be in awe. It's truly a miracle and it's sad that people take it for granted.
Skipper589 yes it is the worlds greatest “democracy”... **republic democracy**
Name a better system in human history ....??
@@j.e.bennett2997 The Westminster parliamentary system used in most Commonwealth countries? Combined with ranked choice voting, we'd have a paradise here in Canada. Ireland uses something closer to this locally. Maine already uses ranked choice iirc, and isn't far away from this system.
acchaladka acchaladka I cannot get to your main argument without first asking how a Westminster Parliament govt is better than a Presidential govt.This is exactly why we fought the Revolutionary War. We do not want to bow down to a Monarchy and kiss the Queens ring. I am NOT an expert on UK based govt in the world. So please first explain this to me b/c I don’t know why anyone would want a Family to have the final say as opposed to a 2 term / 8 yr. (max) President ?
I would love to debate you because you seem to have some intelligence.
But are you open minded enough to 1) have your mind changed 2) not get mad and resort to name calling and shut down debate (I AM NOT SAYING YOU ARE ANY OF THIS - ONLY ASKING)
I am open to debate and open to changing my mind if convicted
Why does no other Western county have lines like this to vote?
Because they don’t stop you from voting on every machine.
Because we’re the 3rd most populated country in the world
@@The_infomer Yet the 2nd most populated country in the world didn't have such problems. Never mind that the US didn't have such problems (or at least not to the same extent) 30 years ago. These are manufactured problems, primarily by the Republican party. But of course the Republican party doesn't think its a "problem" when Democrat voters are suppressed -- _they're_ perfectly happy to become a one-party system like China. You can vote for whichever of our hand-picked sycophants you like! Democracy!
@@The_infomer I understand what you're saying but why does India, the largest democracy in the world, have no issue with lines? Seems to be an American thing if you ask me.
@@The_infomer This is not a scaling issue. Just use more places to vote. There is no logical requirement that a nation of 15 million, 80 million and 300 million people all have to use exactly the same number of voting districts.
Each passing day, my hope in America is being lost. What is the point of democracy if the people in the country have laws to not vote and why are there separate voting booths for the two parties? Also, isn't the judiciary supposed to be separate from politics? If the parties jet to chose what laws to enact, isn't it just a broken judiciary?
You can't have a "national election" without "national rules". Shouldn't be too hard to grasp...
But these aren't national elections. They're all state level elections. I'm not even sure that Congress could pass a law that would be constitutional to put these elections under federal jurisdiction.
Why do people vote on differnt machines when they are enrolled in different parties? Why?
This is just for primaries. The general election has unified voting machines.
@@ColeWeinman Thank you for the answer. Good to know they are using unifed machines for the general ellection.
@@ColeWeinman what is primaries?
@@idontthinkso2431 Who will represent the Democratic/Republican party (Trump vs Biden this time).
@Enzo DiMasi So in the primaries the Democrats and Republicans vote seperatly for their candidates to establish who will run in the general election? And I guess, if one was enrolled for the Democrats they couldn't vote on who the candidate for the Repulican would be?
In India, voting is divided over a period of 4 Weeks... Yes, 4 Weeks! The nation is divided into 7-8 areas and voting is done n different dates. It is absolutely electronic.
Law makes it mandatory (Fundamental Duty to cast vote) for a citizen over 18 to vote. Also, law makes it compulsory to have voting place less than 5KM (abt 3.12 miles) from any citizen of India living anywhere!
India has one of the highest voter turnout (abt 80% or more) and has LESS than 15 minutes waiting time AT MAX.
🇮🇳
There is a lot the US can learn from India...if they only gave the ludicrous notion that they are the greatest in all of history.
💚💜💛
Even if they have the same amount of machines, the power cords to some machines are missing.
America is such a rich country that wants to close polling booths, while India is still a developing country and wants like literally everyone to vote without any burden. For poor, for uneducated, we have a polling booth at a maximum distance from 2km from any given house, cause only when you vote, can you change your country.
In 2016, the Trump campaign actually tried to sue my county for leaving a polling place past 7pm on Election Day, claiming that they let new people join the line (they didn't). The polling location in question was in a hugely Latinx area, in one out of two counties in the state that regularly go blue. Considering it's a swing state, disregarding the votes in that area could've had a huge effect on the state's electoral votes.
It took me 4 -5 hours to vote for president in 2008. I was 7 months pregnant and was told I could not leave the line to sit in a chair or go to the bathroom without losing my place by the poll workers. Luckily the other voters were kind and let me take breaks as needed without losing my place or I would not have been able to vote. This is not a new issue, or even an issue after the changes to the voter rights act. All states need oversight.
I've never had to wait more than 2 minutes to vote (I'm in Canada). I can't imagine waiting in lines this long. How hard is it to set up more voting stations? Almost every church, temple, school, community centre, etc. around here is set up to be a voting station. They even have them in old folks homes so they can easily vote!
It's hard when your district uses costly voting machines. OTOH, if the district uses the optical reader system, you only really need 1-2 readers per precinct, and you can set up as many voting booths as the room allows.
@@crucisnh Yeah, that makes sense. I think it would be easier if the ballots were just paper, like ours, and plenty of voting stations and employees/volunteers to count them. Old ladies (the most trustworthy members of society imo) are usually the ones to count the vote :P
@@marzipanmango Oh, our ballots are on paper. (Well, hard paper, but still paper.) And if you had to, you could still count them by hand. But the "fill in the bubble" style using the optical reader system is really pretty simple, and still leaves you with a paper record.
It is not hard to set up voting stations, this is done on purpose so that Blacks and working class Dems voters suffer doing their civic duty many will not even bother voting because of how difficult it is.
Makes 0 sense to have voting machine for different parties.
actually for primaries it makes perfect sense.
@Asher Samuel the video is about a primary, and primaries are run by the parties. It's both part county's fault and Democrat party leadership's fault
Wait, you have to vote at different stations? It’s supposed to be anonymous!
Anonymity, free press, etc. are some of the most important pillars that democracy needs in order to succeed
Every time I hear more about the American system I’m more amazed.... negatively
Won’t say we have a perfect system but at least we have about 13 parties or so to choose from in the Netherlands 🇳🇱 which gives a way better representation.
It also allows new parties to rise and fall, and forced the government to collaborate in order to have a majority coalition. Having a prime minister instead of a president allows for more stability and less radical changes by the power of one single person.
Not to forget that voting is easy on walking distance from (almost) everybody’s home (there’s even mobile voting stations driving around in less densely populated areas) you don’t need to register yourself (as everybody who’s allowed to vote is automatically allowed to vote) and you can even give somebody else permission to vote in your place if you can’t make it.
(Let my mother vote a few times when I was in the wrong city on the voting day)
It was a primary election. You specifically request a Democratic or Republican ballot.
@@Loren42 the machines could/should have both ballots and only give you the ballot of your party per the card that you are given to insert into the voting machines. That is what has always occurred when I have used machines, but more often I had a paper ballot to mark and then put in the ballot machine to be tallied.
@@EpwnaExeter Yes, they could. My point is that, contrary to what NvWest wrote above, the process in a primary is never anonymous as to which party you select. The parties don't have to have separate machines (I frankly think that's poor election design), but there IS a record, a public record in fact, of which party's ballot you selected.
How are democratic and republican voting machines separated? Doesn't it violate anonymity?
@Enzo DiMasi Why don't they integrate both parties in one system, it's simpler, fairer and does not expose your political choice publicly? It does not seem to be a purely voter-oriented decision.
@Enzo DiMasi Ah I see so essentially they are choosing which candidate they want from their respective parties
In India in our last election(2019) we had 916 million registered voters of which 67% voted. It's mandatory for our election commission to place a poll booth within 2km distance of a voter. We are imperfect in many ways but when it comes to democracy we give everyone their chance. I think Vox made a video on it too!
What sort of a system has separate machines for separate parties? Why not have one machine for all that allows you to vote for any party? Stops the problems with interfering with either parties supporters ability to vote, also allows you to keep your vote private if you want to and finally makes discrimination much harder to do without it being obvious with the closure of voting booths in heavily minority populated areas
To be clear, that was for a primary election, not the main presidential election. Primaries are used to decide who the candidate will be in the presidential election. The primaries in 2020 as an example were mainly between Biden and Sanders once many other candidates dropped out.
different machines means the voting is not anonymous
This was a primary election, not a general election.
Fr this is not cool
It’s a primary so it’s two separate elections (one per party) happening at the same time. So two elections means two sets of machines
Wait...Republicans and Democrats cast their votes at different sides of the room?!? Just when I thought America couldn't get more weird...
It was a primary
That was a primary election, they were voting for who would run against each other in November.
@@joermnyc But why would that require separating the voters to different sides of the room?
@@Sasataf exactly
The Primaries are complete different elections, Democrats and Republicans will not even vote on the same day
Oh my God, this can't be true! It's a wonder people don't all go home.
My city in Germany, where I live, has 60,000 inhabitants. There are a total of 52 polling stations in the city during elections, there are no queues and no waiting times for voting.
Americans, resist, the mighty want to take away your right to vote!
Love how Americans yelling democracy everyday while this is happening. Lol
That was why Bernie lost Texas. There should be a law saying that their needs to be one polling station for every 1,000 people.
I cannot begin to say how absurd this all is. Largest democracy in the world my @ss!
We have many many problems in Brazil but voting is not one of them. Almost 150 million voters choose their candidates in one single day and the longest line I’ve ever taken was a 15 minute one.
Oh, did I mentioned that we use voting machines and the results are known the day after Election Day?
At last election in Rio de Janeiro, there were people who didn't vote because of the long lines, many voting polls were closed due to lack of funds.
So, yes, our voting rights are better than in the USA. But I wouldn't brag about it too much. There are places where the candidates can't ask for votes on the streets because of the criminals that control the area. Having less knowlegde of one's options because of the interest of a certain group is a kind of voter supression.
Not to mention that there is always a talk about making voting optional, which is supposedly to gives us more freedom, but is actually about disencouraging "certain" "less councious" people from voting. That in my opinion would turn against the very people who think like that. Non-mandatory voting makes voting seems like a privilege, not a right.
It is the original sin of voting suppression, in my opinion.
By the way, I am from Rio. 😭
Beatriz Medeiros Noleto not bragging. Just saying that their whole process needs improvement
The beauty of VOX is that anyone can understand it no matter you are american or not
What do you mean?
@@jansojele289 Some people, including me, aren't from the US, therefore they don't know all the details of your electronic/constitution. So it helps to understand what's going on inside your country.
@@alpher3512 oh okay, I'm Italian btw
Voting lines are almost unheard of in Canada. It blows my mind to hear of a Voting location being open till 1 am, or waiting 1 hour or in some cases multiple hours to vote!? I think I waited 20 min once??? but normally I'm in and out in 5-10 min.
It took me 2 minutes in the UK to vote. Go to the church 30 seconds away. Turn up, go in, tell my name, ask security question, no ID needed, they give paper, I vote, go home.
saying "there's no way to know if its intentional" is being a bit too polite
Doesnt seperate voting machines also defeat the purpose of secret elections ?
That part was about a primary election, not the general election. So people can only vote in the party election they are registered in (depending on the state some states have open primaries where you can choose wich party primary you want to vote on).
Texas has open primaries as talked about with the separate machines. What this allows is that anyone can vote in either parties’ primary, but not in both.
Once in the general election all the machines are together regardless of party. And the city and county for Houston are allowing people to vote at ANY open polling location in the city even on Election Day.
Hey, that’s me!! 😊
lol
How can you have 2 lines? Isn't voting private in de USA? We vote alone behind a curtain with all nominated candidates on the ballot here in the Netherlands.
As a poll worker, you can always vote by mail, and it's preferred. Its much more efficient for both voters and government. Closures save local counties money that can be used for a lot of good things. Perhaps informing how you can vote rather than how you can't vote would be better vox.
Love your stuff Vox... I think I watch to much!🔥
What??? Voter suppression affects black Americans??? And poor neighborhoods??? Oh, I didn’t know that at all. 😮
**sarcasm**
This video is obviously targeted towards a White America so out of touch with minority communities. Not saying that’s a bad thing though, they ought to be empowered by this content!
When more ice cream is sold in a city, more crime is committed in that city. Ice cream must be causing crime huh? Cause correlation is causation.
Completely random fact:
There are only three types of snakes on the island of Tasmania and all three are deadly poisonous.
False: They are not poisonous. They are venomous.
your name is 'scifacts' and yet you can't even get the terminology correct.
It's scary that this was allowed to happen. In my area it took them 5 years to move the polling place for local elections a 5 minute walk around the corner - they still haven't been able to move the polls for national votes, even though using that polling place results in 200 children missing a day of school!
In Switzerland every person who is swiss citizen and over 18 years old gets a letter some weeks in advance to vote by mail or take it to the polling station. No supression, no signing up, no waiting in a line. It's simple as that.
In Mississippi, my grandmother lived in segregated Jackson. She said both whites and blacks paid poll taxes at the poll and took literacy tests. But, white voters got the answers on a separate sheet and black voters were left to guess. Along with all this, polling stations themselves were segregated and “equal”
They just wanted to see them suffer
while they sit and observe
RUclips: Vox posted 16 minutes ago
Vox: What long voting lines in the US really mean
Everyone: hEarS 1 kEywoRd and RusHeS tO tHe cOmMenTS
Us Canadians feel like we live in an apartment above a meth lab
Your entitlement is amazing.
The US really need to sort out their long lines
It makes people not want to vote
In the UK, the polling stations have little/no lines so it takes under 5 minutes to vote
It’s so much better.
Loving the content Vox!!
Hey, Texans. We got early voting. So...You know...Vote Early.
Just wait till the Republican-controlled government passes more laws to make even early voting super crowded. Oh wait....
Different booths for both? Lol why?
Seperate but (un)equal. In the South they have a multitude of ways to keep Blacks subservient and impoverished and to convince them that it's their own fault for not voting, for not going to college, for not moving to a nicer neighborhood, for not raising their kids right, for not eating healthy enough, for not obeying police officers' demands, etc etc.
Also, isn't your vote supposed to remain secret in the US? At least here in Europe that is a big deal...
@@jullit31 They are talking about primaries, which is basically 2 different elections in the same time.
@@iyaq8659 What are primary elections? And why do they matter?
It's a primary, the ballots are different based on the booths
how in the world is this land called land off the FREE?? Everything that is a civilist right in other countries is still hase to be faut in the USA?
Great video guys! Thank you for educating us!
0:34 - why are there separate machines?
Also, is democracy seen as an insult to the Republican party?
As an American, I don’t think I’ve ever spent more than 15 minutes in line to vote, the key is to do early voting and come early in the morning or later in the evening. The ID laws aren’t difficult either as there are multiple different types of ID (driver’s license, passport, gun license, etc) that are acceptable. Yes some politicians engage In shifty schemes to make voting more of a burden and clowns like Trump and Stacey Abrams spread discontent by claiming everything is rigged, but another part of the problem is people don’t understand the rules or pay any attention to political issues. Ultimately, it’s not too hard to vote if you pay attention and do it right go vote it’s your duty as a citizen
2019 World Democracy rankings. U.S.A. is the 25th most democratic country in the world, and is rated as a "flawed democracy."
I love how "democratic" the US is.
Racism is so depressing. I'm so sick of the pointless nastiness of racism. Please protect the voting rights of all voters.
Why can't Americans vote normally? Get more stations to reduce queing right x on a sheet of paper fold once and put it in a box.
At this point I'm just trying out that literacy test 2:24 for anyone who wants to have a go themselves.
Why is this more interesting than the rest of the video?!
Good luck with your country
thanks
😂
Oh wow it’s about race again from Vox??? Wow major revolutionary surprise!!!!!!!!!!
Oh wow a "gamer" who's whining that things are about race whenever systemic racism and voter suppression are real? Color me surprised.
I would love it if we could have a long list of names of the republicans who voted to put these undemocratic, voter suppression laws in place. Just to have.
In Canada, you can be in and out of a polling station in under 2 minutes... 10 minutes MAX if it’s super busy that day 🇨🇦
This is intentional.
No it's not
@@pumbo_nv The russian says it's not
First in 2016, now in 2020? man Russians are everywhere
They should do what Disneyland does: have a sign that shows the approximate wait time at each location, as well as an app that shows which locations have different wait times.
And have a FastPass-like ticket to avoid lines.
@Jacob K. They actually DO have a website for just that. It lets you see all the early voting locations, their line length, hours of operation , and estimated wait.
Wait! There’s a separation of voting machine before they even got to vote? Wouldn’t that be obvious who vote for who? Isnt voting supposed to be confidential?
Just wanted to point out that the thumbnail for this video shows the people at the front of the line having a longer wait time than the people in the back. smh
Why don't you have voting via mail? This has been proven to work in switzerland for a long time now
Fun fact: No one cares that you are first
This gotta be in the textbooks.
Are we talking about first to vote here? Or first comments ? Well either way I agree
Everyday i wake up and i fell fortunate to note be born in the Us but in Europe.
Oh, you are too lucky.
I’ve been watching Vox for a while now! I loved their content!! As such, I made my own futurist/sci-fi content!!
Arguably the most important video on youtube right now.
India there's a law that there should be a voting booth at most 1 km from a voter... Even if you are a single guy living in the middle of nowhere the election commission will come setup the office and take your vote.
Thats cool but doesnt it take very long for results?
@@josuepalomares6820 yeah sure it does. But being a country of 1.3 billions results take already forever. Also elections dont just happen on a single day we have like a good 3 weeks to a month of election. Every state has a day or two for its election then results are calculated at the end