These people are braving insanely long lines to cast their vote today

By Charles Pulliam-Moore  |  November 8, 2016 | 7:03pm
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Today, millions of American voters are traveling to their local polling stations and casting ballots in one of the most important presidential elections in American history. Some will vote for Hillary Clinton, the first woman ever nominated by one of the country’s two major political parties. Others will vote for Donald Trump, the billionaire racist who became so known for tweeting insane, offensive, inflammatory things that his campaign staffers had to take his Twitter account away.

Regardless of who you’re voting for, there’s little question that you definitely should vote today. With that in mind, though, be warned that a number of people around the country have encountered ridiculously long waiting lines at their polling stations. Depending on where you are and when you decide to go vote, there are a number of different reasons that there could be a significant wait before you actually get a chance to fill out and submit your vote.

Some polling places, like one in Jersey City, have been plagued by good old fashioned disorganization while other long lines have been attributed to allegations of voter suppression. It’s a well-established fact that longer lines at polling places disproportionately affect poor people of color living in urban areas who are impacted economically by the amount of time they’re often forced to take off work in order to cast their votes.

Then, of course, there are people like James O’Keefe blatantly trying to intimidate voters.

If you run into long lines today, there are two things to remember: first, you can report instances of voter intimidation and suppression (if you suspect it) to the ACLU or Election Protection. Second, you’re not the only one waiting and it’s your civic duty to vote.

 
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