Opening time is always a problem when more than a handful are waiting to sign in. Its impossible to clear the line because the math doesn't add up. We just try to be as efficient as possible and ask people to be patient. Its like this. Sign in takes 1 to 2 minutes. Voting on the manchine takes people 1-5 minutes depending on the voter and how many offices and questions are on the ballot. We have two voting machines. If there are 10 people in line at opening, the voter number 11 will have to wait around 15 minutes before its his/her turn to sign in. But it always takes longer for people to vote than sign in. So even with two machines, number 11 ends up waiting another 5 minutes. If there are 20 people in line at opening, the time to get to the 21s will be twice it was for 11.
Showing up a half hour after opening is usually better because we've cleared the backlog created by people lining up before opening. Ironic isn't it.