Melanie StefanFeb 12, 2023
US friends, take note. I went to vote in Berlin today and this was the line in front of the polling station. “But wait! There is no line!” Indeed. There is no line because there need not be one. Because it’s about how polling is organised. If you are standing in a line for hours in order to exercise your democratic rights, it’s because someone wants you to.#polling #democracy #righttovote
Show threadMordko
@melanieistefan this is Berlin too. Come on. Be better. Why spread obvious nonsense?
Feb 12, 2023 at 5:09pmWeb
Show threadMelanie StefanFeb 12, 2023
@Mordko That’s a lot of people in T-Shirts for a rainy February day.
Show threadMordkoFeb 12, 2023
@melanieistefan its November 2022 elections in Berlin. The point is that lineups happen everywhere and its not a conspiracy
Show threadUlrik Nyman ⬡Feb 12, 2023
@Mordko @melanieistefan People do not wear only t-shirts in November in Berlin.
Show threadMordkoFeb 12, 2023
@UlrikNyman @melanieistefan BS https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/berlin-court-orders-rerun-chaotic-2021-state-election-93401787
Berlin court orders rerun of chaotic 2021 state election

A Berlin court has ordered a rerun of the German capital’s 2021 state election because of severe election-day glitches at many polling stations

ABC News
Show threadUlrik Nyman ⬡Feb 12, 2023

@Mordko @melanieistefan
The picture seems to first have been used in 26th of September 2021.
It is used by LeMonde and NPR. It is probably from an election in Germany, but one year earlier than you stated. And two months earlier in the year, thus making the t-shirts make sense.

https://tineye.com/search/ccba85455b9dec427803096b02b7848aabc641c2?sort=crawl_date&order=asc&page=1

TinEye Reverse Image Search

Show threadMordkoFeb 12, 2023
@UlrikNyman @melanieistefan ok. Temperature isn’t the point here. This is Canada: https://www.ctvnews.ca/mobile/politics/federal-election-2021/elections-canada-sorry-people-didn-t-vote-because-of-long-lineups-1.5594728?cache=goxayamgqtwsx
Elections Canada 'sorry' people didn't vote because of long lineups

Many older voters, parents with young children and Canadians with disabilities didn't vote because of long lineups at their voting sites, with Elections Canada apologizing for the wait but saying there was little else they could do in a pandemic.

CTVNews
Show threadUlrik Nyman ⬡Feb 14, 2023
@Mordko @melanieistefan
But as far as I understand it was news that there were these queues at a German election. Thus, they are used to elections without queues. The USA seems to be one of the only places where long queues is routinely used to deter voters from voting in certian areas.
Show threadMordkoFeb 14, 2023
@UlrikNyman @melanieistefan its always news that there are long queues in every country’s elections. UK and Canada both havethem. Unless you have a Soviet-style elections or all your citizens are in the army, weather and all sorts of other problems may mean that a lot of people come at the exact same time. Also US is less centralized than European countries with somewhat different systems in various states. Demonstrably false anecdotal claims claims are not data.
Show threadMordkoFeb 14, 2023
@UlrikNyman @melanieistefan quite a change though from “you are only ever in a queue because someone wants you to” to “queues are only on the news in Germany because it was a one-off and they are not on the news in the US”. Neither is true.
Show threadMordkoFeb 14, 2023
@UlrikNyman @melanieistefan this might be interesting, assuming its not just the soundbite you are after https://www.usenix.org/legacy/event/evtwote10/tech/full_papers/Edelstein.pdf
Show threadMordkoFeb 14, 2023
@UlrikNyman @melanieistefan last but not least, in Germany the electorate has been shrinking. Makes it easy to plan for. https://www.dw.com/en/german-election-demographics-facts-and-figures/a-59143207. Germany is a gerontocracy. In the US 20 million more turned up to vote in 2020 than in 2016 and most of the increase was young and poorer neighborhoods. Harder to predict and plan for.
German election demographics

Germany's electorate is aging and shrinking. What will that mean for the German parliament in the post-Merkel era?

Deutsche Welle
Show threadUlrik Nyman ⬡Feb 14, 2023

@Mordko @melanieistefan You plan for everybody voting.

Denmark: 1.383 polling place (2021), population (2020): 5,882,261. People pr. polling place: 4253.
USA: 230,000 polling place (2018), population (2022): 333,287,557. People pr. polling place: 1449.

I expected this to show the opposite relationship. This just makes it even more weird that the USA gets such long queues at some polling locations.

Maybe it is the use of election machines that makes for less booths per polling place?

Show threadMordkoFeb 14, 2023
@UlrikNyman @melanieistefan Denmark is a tiny Kingdom with high taxes, relying on US for defence like we all do. Very expensive place with no growth. Not everyone is or wants to be like that. If you want to come to the US and sort them out, I am certain your advice would be valued. Although it looks like you also have a conspiracy to make people wait https://uniavisen.dk/en/right-now-danish-voters-queue-up-for-election/
Right now: Danish voters queue up for election

The polls are now open in the Danish general election. Latest polls predict a tight race between the opposition red bloc and the blue bloc, including the present governing parties

University Post
Show threadUlrik Nyman ⬡Feb 15, 2023
@Mordko @melanieistefan This is a line of 9 people inside a building from a news story in 2011. The focus is on the election being a thing and not on the problem of queues.
Show threadUlrik Nyman ⬡Feb 15, 2023
@Mordko @melanieistefan I have voted in every danish election since 1998 and I have followed danish news for at least as long. There is not a problem with election queues in Denmark.
Show threadMordkoFeb 15, 2023
@UlrikNyman @melanieistefan there isn’t a problem for the vast majority of Americans or Canadians either. Anecdote is not data. Not every problem is a conspiracy
Show threadUlrik Nyman ⬡Feb 16, 2023

@Mordko @melanieistefan

https://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/2020/03/05/no-one-should-wait-six-hours-to-vote-but-in-texas-thousands-did-on-super-tuesday/

`No one should wait six hours to vote,' but in Texas, thousands did on Super Tuesday

Joe Biden had an exceedingly Super Tuesday in Texas. But for thousands of Texas voters, primary night was a nightmare. Many waited four hours. A thousand or...

The Dallas Morning News
Show threadMordkoFeb 16, 2023
@UlrikNyman @melanieistefan I am confident Democratic Party would benefit frim your experience in organizing Primaries. Good luck.
Show threadMordkoFeb 14, 2023
@UlrikNyman @melanieistefan but to your point, I suspect American Federal system generates a lot of inefficiencies for country-wide events like elections. Overall it seems to work for them.
Show threadDebora Weber-WulffFeb 12, 2023
@Mordko @melanieistefan
Looks like the election in September 2021. It was not all polling stations with lines. But there were enough problems so the courts decided a repeat was necessary. So we learned from the errors instead of forbidding people to pass out water to people waiting in line.
Show threadMordkoFeb 13, 2023
@WiseWoman @melanieistefan Bully for you. Back in the real world there are some queues in every election in every country. No, its not a conspiracy. https://news.sky.com/story/anti-immigration-party-takes-seats-off-merkels-cdu-in-german-local-elections-10584008
Anti-immigration party takes seats off Merkel's CDU in German local elections

The Alternative for Germany party wins 11.5% of the vote in Berlin, exit polls say, just behind the Christian Democrats on 18%.

Sky