Many seniors and people who work full-time Monday through Friday drove to polling places last weekend, found out that there were four-hour waits and left, without voting.

Many of them requested absentee ballots fewer than 10 days before Election Day. But many will not vote at all.

At Boca Raton City Hall, where they said they had machines for special needs, there was only one machine for people with minimal eyesight, and I saw a woman wait in line for two hours only to be told that she would have to wait another three if she needed to use that machine.

She did not vote.

My mother, who is 85, has always voted in person. Not this year. She planned to, but then she heard about the lines. She requested an absentee ballot eight days before the election. She probably won’t receive it in enough time to mail it back and have her vote be counted.

Next time, we need to be more proactive about expanding opportunities to vote.

We let the Florida Legislature win a voter-suppression battle that should never have been waged.

Susan Chester, Boca Raton