About

If You're In Line, Stay In Line is a catchphrase used by American politicians and activists during elections to encourage those waiting to vote to remain in the queue even if the polls close, as the law states that anyone who enters the queue to vote before the polls close is still eligible to vote. The refrain became so common that it was later parodied, particularly after the 2020 United States Presidential Election.

Origin

In American elections, if a person arrives at a polling place before it is scheduled to close but cannot get to a voting booth because of the line to get in, they are legally still allowed to vote.^[1] This led to the phrase "If you're in line, stay in line" to become a common refrain during elections, appearing with increasing regularity on Election Day 2016 (example^[2] shown below).

Spread

The phrase saw use on social media in subsequent elections^[3] but parodies did not begin seeing regular use until the 2020 United States Presidential Election, in the four days between when Election Night ended (November 3rd) and the race was officially declared for Joe Biden (November 7th). For example, on November 6th, three days after polls closed, Twitter user @DPD_^[4] tweeted the phrase, gaining over 80 likes (shown below, left). After Biden was declared the winner, user @louisvertel^[5] tweeted, "If you’re in a 500-person conga line screaming in victory with honking traffic, STAY IN LINE," gaining over 5,900 retweets and 50,000 likes (shown below, right).

In the ensuing months, the phrase was used in parodies involving any sort of line. For example, on March 26th, 2021, Twitter user @ldrinkh20^[6] tweeted the phrase in reference to the Suez Canal Jam, gaining over 14,000 retweets and 189,000 likes (shown below, left). On March 23rd, user @kelly_scraps^[7] posted the phrase in reference to Godzilla vs. Kong, gaining over 35 likes (shown below, right).

Various Examples

Search Interest

Unavailable

External References