Compared to the US, voting in France is different. Here's my experience as a recent citizen.

It's Sunday and I don't have to work. I can stroll to my polling place and goof off (because I'm stressed).

1/7 https://t.co/Lrymq4qdwP

I vote at an elementary school near my house. No major lines because the size of the polling place is limited to a certain manageable number of residents.
2/7 https://t.co/uYWbpYvWxs

Voting is simple. One paper with a name in an envelope. Not ten pages with school boards, judges, commissioners, propositions. (Because French citizens don't vote for much stuff and usually not at once: municipal, departmental, regional, national parliament, president, EU).

3/7 https://t.co/Cvhn4R9gzj

Voting laws are not totally racist like in the US. Access could be improved for students, unhoused people, and others who need assistance, but generally it's not a gauntlet to vote and registration is not an administrative maze designed to exclude whole groups of people.

4/7 https://t.co/20CesiGGv3

And a bonus for this election is that the elementary school has tiny, tiny toilets. They are cute and represent my current feelings.

5/7 https://t.co/gkCp2KrpbH

Bonus 2: there is a random United States papier-mâché hot air balloon at the school. Did they make it just for me? I'm not saying they didn't.

6/7 https://t.co/jotoQG1GrW

And now to wait for the results, released stressfully at 8pm sharp, when the embargo is formally lifted on French media. Until then the French press can only talk about abstention. Or I could read the Belgian and Swiss coverage for live exit polls, like everyone else does.

7/7 https://t.co/DkuZ5v5eGe