Depends on how complex the ballot is. In California, my mail-in ballot was accompanied by a magazine-sized booklet that was, if I recall correctly, more than 100 pages, and was necessary to understand the complexities surrounding the many propositions on the ballot. SWMBO and I, working steadily in tandem, each of us filling gaps in the other's knowledge, took the better part of an hour to make our decisions (not always the same decisions, either!) and mark our ballots.

Some of those issues were important, like a constitutional amendment (California's constitution) to ban gay marriage, or a law requiring parental consent before a teenager could receive an abortion, or a 10 billion dollar high speed rail system that will almost certainly cost twice that.

So, yes, I can see why in some cases there could be long lines.

tanstaafl.