Why Nashville's Election Day line is always worst after 5

Every election, same scene. Somebody posts a photo of a line wrapped around a church parking lot at 5:40 PM with the caption "this is insane." It's not insane. It's math, and it happens every time.

Most of Davidson County works 8 to 5. Most people think "I'll vote after work." So everyone shows up in the same 90-minute window, at the same precinct, with the same plan. Poll workers can't add machines at 5:15. The line is the plan colliding with itself.

The window nobody uses

The fix isn't complicated. Precincts are dead between 10 and 2. Dead. The workers are reading. If your job lets you take a long lunch, that's your window, and you'll be done faster than your coffee order. If it doesn't, go before work. Polls open at 7 AM and the early crowd is mostly retirees who've been doing this for forty years and move fast.

Two things that wreck your evening

Wrong precinct. You have to go to your assigned one, not the closest one. Showing up at the wrong church gets you a provisional ballot and another line. Look it up at nashville.gov before you leave.

No ID. Bring a photo ID. Tennessee is strict about it, and "I forgot" is a wasted trip.

The one rule that saves everyone

If you're in line at 7 PM, you vote. They can't send you home. So if it's 6:50 and the line looks bad, get in it anyway.

• Go between 10 and 2, or before work
• Your assigned precinct, not the nearest
• Photo ID in hand
• In line by 7, you vote

Hank doesn't care who you pick. He cares that a city this loud about everything else shows up for the one day it actually counts.

Your turn: Where was your line, and how long did it take? Tell us in The Coop.

*Christ at the center. By the locals, for the locals.*