Polling hours in the whole of the USA are 7am to 7pm, it seems, the poll staying open for anyone in line at 7pm. How long has this been so? At what time do people end work in the US ? The 7pm close seems early if people have to get home from work and then go to the polling station.Could this be a factor, though a minor one, in low turnouts?

In the UK the polls open at 7 am but close at 10 pm. Even then there were some complaints last time about the 'early' close (People often go the polling station on their way from the pub or a restaurant , maybe en route to election night parties , and it's easy to misjudge the hour in such circumstances Perhaps Americans like their voters 100 per cent sober )

I don’t know about the rest of America, but the polls in most of New York State are open from 6:00AM to 9:00PM. (New York City and Nassau, Suffolk, Westchester, Rockland, Orange, Ulster and Erie Counties. Noon to 9 P.M. in the rest of the state)

Election Day is a holiday for many workers (not me) in America so going to vote after work is a non issue for many.

I voted at 6:15AM this morning, and while there was no line there were people coming and going constantly.

They're open 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. around here. Not sure what happens to those in line at closing time, but my guess is they have to let you vote.
I think the biggest factor in low turnouts is that people just don't care that much, all the candidates seem the same, no one's vote seems to count anyway, and when you can only choose between the lesser of two evils, why bother?

That said, I will be voting directly after work.

"Perhaps Americans like their voters 100 per cent sober"

This has more truth in it than you thought. Many (most?) states required bars to close on election day during voting hours, which are decided on a state-by-state basis.* This has changed in some states, but not, I assume, all. The reasoning was not only the desire for sober voters but also to prevent an unscrupulous person from "buying" votes with drinks or getting drunk voters to vote their way. The hours in most states were also shorter than they are now, with 6:00 am to 6:00pm being the most common.

Fred, you must alo remember that the contiguous states span 4 time ones, Eastern (UTC-5), AnswerPool (ak Central) (UTC-6), Mountain (UTC-7), and Pacific (UTC-8). Most of Alaska is in the Alaska time one (clever, what?) (UTC-9), with the western Aleutians on Hawaii-Aleutian Time (UTC-10), along with Hawaii. It really is a big country.

*This may not be entirely true. There is one small town in New England that allows (or allowed) voting at midnight. They always made national news, with pictures of people waiting for the polls to open at midnight.
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Another oddity in US voting is that citiens of Puerto Rico, a territory of the US, can only vote for president if they are residents in one of the states. If they are in Puerto Rico, they cannot vote. [Puerto Rico is in the Atlantic time one (UTC-3)]. The nationals of the other territories/commonwealths of the US (Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Northern Mariana Islands, and American Samoa) have the same situation; they are citizens of the US, but cannot vote unless they reside in one of the states.

quote:

*This may not be entirely true. There is one small town in New England that allows (or allowed) voting at midnight. They always made national news, with pictures of people waiting for the polls to open at midnight.

DG, that is Dixville Notch New Hampshire I believe you are referring to. I actually have been there on my one and only skiing vacation quite a few years ago. We stayed at The Balsams. (resort where the small town casts their votes)

Another interesting thing about The Balsams is where Stephen King stayed and wrote “ The Shining ”. They even wanted to film the movie there but the resort would not close for the shooting. The food is world class and there is only one television in the whole resort. The hedges outside are shaped as animals (as in the book) and every time I walked down the long, long hallways I kept seeing these creepy twin girls !

It is at the end of a road and the next stop is Canada!

I voted at 6:15 am... it certainly seemed open.

Thanks, Koz. Now that I see the name, I remember it. I thought it was in New Hampshire, but wasn't sure.

I just heard on the news that the polls in both Illinois and Missouri are open from 6 am until 7pm.

ЯEDЯUM

A supplemental question: It maybe that all states are so wired up that the results are known within minutes and there is also a factor of time zones but are there constituencies that take pride in declaring their results first?

Over in Britain we still have no polling machines, no chads etc etc to record votes but just a crayon and an X on a bit of paper, so the voting slips are counted by an army of bank clerks. Early indications of the result are not exit polls but the sight on TV of the piles of paper for each of the candidates (and the look on the faces of them and their representatives )

So there always a bit of a friendly race to declare a result and the TV makes some play of this contest. Naturally, this being here, you can surely place a bet on which place will declare first.(Well, betting just on the results of an election, seats won, majority etc is too boring on its own )

Anything like that in the States ?

"...are there constituencies that take pride in declaring their results first?
"

Yes. Koz's link to Dixville Notch answers that question.

I think your system of voting and counting votes, like we did for almost two centuries, works best. Yes, there exists ways to rig an election that way, but they are easier to spot than when computers are used, especially when there is no paper trail.

The polls in Michigan are open from 7:00am-8:00pm.
I voted at 1:00 pm.

quote:

Originally posted by Koz: Another interesting thing about The Balsams is where Stephen King stayed and wrote “ The Shining ”.

I thought that was the Stanley Hotel. Or was that where they did shoot it?

Having a husband in the furnace and A/C industry who leaves the house before seven and often does not get back until eight or nine, I wonder if his employer should have made some allowances to ensure his employees are able to vote?

It may be that his employer is legally required to give him time to vote. I'll try to look that up.

STATE VOTER LEAVE LAWS

The following states have laws giving employees the right to take time off from work to vote. Many states require employees to give employers notice about taking leave before Election Day and some states require employees to provide employers with proof of voting. In addition, while employers cannot prevent employees from voting, most states give employers the right to specify the time during the day that leave can be taken.

NOTE: This information is for background purposes only. Readers should seek legal advice before taking any specific action.

Alaska
Arizona
Arkansas
California
Colorado
Georgia
Hawaii
Illinois
Iowa
Kansas
Kentucky
Maryland
Massachusetts
Minnesota
Missouri
Nebraska
Nevada
New Mexico
New York
North Dakota
Ohio
Oklahoma
South Dakota
Tennessee
Texas
Utah
Washington
West Virginia
Wisconsin
Wyoming
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NEW YORK

Employees who do not have four consecutive hours before or after work may take up to two hours of leave so that, when added to time during non-working hours, gives her sufficient time to vote.

Employees must apply for leave at least two days but not more than ten days before Election Day.

Employers may specify whether leave can occur at the beginning or end of the workday.

Employees are entitled to paid leave.

Source: New York State Consolidated Laws S 3-110
(All above from TimeToVote.net)

Not only do we have no law saying the employee can take time off to vote (we have long hours for polling so time off is not needed) but we always have our elections on a Thursday.

Why not Saturday or Sunday ? Sunday was obviously special but the weekend seems equally 'sacred' to Britons and the law is that the election can be on any day except Saturday,Sunday, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day,Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Bank Holidays or any day set aside for public thanksgiving or mourning ! Thursday was market day in many towns and the weekly early closing day for shops and other businesses in many others. Thursday elections also meant that the result was known on Friday and so the incoming government had the weekend in which to get itself together and sorted ready to start on Monday.

In Europe elections are often held on a Sunday and all French national elections poll on a Sunday. The idea that Sunday is a day of rest (meaning enforced idleness ) must be a protestant one

In Washington State, the polls are open from 7AM to 8PM. In our county, however, there ARE no polls--countywide it's all vote by mail. So I voted Monday.

There have been in past years during national elections complaints from our side of the country that in many years, the Presidential election has been called before the good folk here have even gotten to the polls, thus decreasing voter turnout. There has been some call for the country to synchronize polling times to open and close at the same time. I doubt anything will come of that, though.