Polling place

Polling place

A polling place is where voters cast their ballots in elections. A polling place can contain one or more polling stations. The building where the polling location is sited can have a significant effect on the results of the poll. Research shows that polling location may influence how a voter casts his or her ballot.

About Polling place in brief

Summary Polling placeA polling place is where voters cast their ballots in elections. A polling place can contain one or more polling stations. The area may be known as a ward, precinct, polling district or constituency. The building where the polling location is sited can have a significant effect on the results of the poll. Research shows that polling location may influence how a voter casts his or her ballot. Polling places have changed significantly over the past 250 years. Advances in technology have played a major role in changing the polling places because as the type of ballot changed, the venue in which the ballots are counted also changed. The use of paper and electronic ballots have been the most widely used form of capturing votes in recent history. Waiting times at polling places have also been a controversial topic in the USA. President Obama mentioned in his State of the Union address on February 12, 2013, that he went to polling places to decrease waiting times. He went on to say that it is not just waiting times that need to decrease, it is also that the building, the name of the building and even the decor can have large effects on the way people vote.

The word ‘polls’ means ‘scalp’ or ‘head’ in English. When votes were taken by gathering people together and counting heads, the place where this was done was called the “polls”. When the voter arrives he or she will be asked to show a form of voter identification. Once the voter has been properly identified he or they goes to a voting booth where the votes are captured. Once all the votes have been captured the voter then verifies his or she voting ticket and then submits the ballot to the poll worker, ballot box, or on the computerized ballot. These polls are held inside a building that has been set up in stations to assist voters. These comprise hand-counted paper ballots, mechanical lever machines, punch cards, optically readable paper ballots and electronic voting machines.