US election 2016: Timelapse footage shows ridiculously long line of voters outside Brooklyn polling station
Joel Frenzer, who took the video, says he is 'really excited by the turnout'
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.People arriving at some US polling stations have had to join the back of a long line, with many waiting hours to cast their vote in the presidential election.
At one location in Brooklyn, New York, the queue snaked around the block, turned another corner and continued down the street.
Joel Frenzer, 40, filmed the line of people waiting to enter his local polling station in the Prospect Lefferts Gardens area of the city not long after it had opened at 6am.
“I got to the end of that line, and I decided not to wait in line and went home instead,” Mr Frenzer told The Independent.
“I’m back right now and it’s somewhat shorter, but not much. I’m guessing I'll be here for 45 minutes.”
Similar scenes took place across the country, with voters waiting up to 90 minutes at one polling station in Detroit, reported the Washington Post.
And in North Hollywood in California, some people brought beach chairs to a polling station before dawn.
"I waited two hours in line to vote. So what? Others fought, bled and died for the right to vote. I owe them," wrote Harold Itzkowitz on Twitter.
While New York is not a swing state, Mr Frenzer said he and the people around him were "really excited by the turnout" and hoped his video could be a show of solidarity towards people in other states.
“I don’t think there are any problems, it’s just the number of people,” he said. “I’m voting for Hillary Clinton. It can’t be Trump.”
Another video of even more voters, some with young children, waiting outside the same polling station was also widely shared on Twitter this morning.
Long lines were also experienced in some areas during the 2012 election.
Harvard PhD student Stephen Pettigrew, who studies polling lines, told the New York Times while long queues did "give some indication of the health of our democracy," they could also suggest problems in some areas.
Mr Pettigrew has found lines are around twice as long in areas with mostly minority communities compared to in predominantly white areas.
He told the newspaper this could be because election officials may have reacted slowly to changes in voting demographics.
In 2012, the turnout of black voters was higher than that of white voters for the first time in history, according to CNN.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments