Waiting to Vote in the 2016 Presidential Election: Evidence from a Multi-County Study
A nationwide observational study of polling places during the 2016 U.S.
Why It Matters
The publication begins with a motivating question: What are the dynamics of polling place operations and wait times during the 2016 presidential election, and how do factors such as time of day, poll worker staffing, and voter ID requirements affect voter experiences?
Its central contribution is to show that a nationwide observational study of polling places during the 2016 U.S.
It matters because the findings connect institutional choices to the way authority, public responsibility, and political behavior are experienced in practice.
Key Findings
- Long lines, waiting times, and times to vote are closely related to time of day, with mornings being the busiest.
- More poll workers per voter in line significantly reduce average line length and check-in time.
- Strict photo ID requirements speed up check-in in majority-white polling places but increase check-in time in majority-nonwhite polling places.
- Same-day registration increases check-in times.
- Ballot length and straight-ticket voting options affect time to vote, but electronic voting machines did not significantly affect voting time in this study.
Research Design
- Design
- Article
- Data
- Observational data collected by research teams at polling places in 28 counties across 19 states on Election Day 2016.; Supplemental demographic data from Catalist (2016).
- Geography
- United States (28 counties in 19 states)
- Time Period
- November 8, 2016 (U.S. presidential election day)
- Unit of Analysis
- Polling place and individual voter observations
- Methods
- Direct observation and timing of voters at polling places in 28 counties across 19 states during the 2016 U.S. presidential election.; Random sampling of polling places within counties, with some deviations due to local conditions.; Data collected included line length, arrivals, check-in time, time to vote, and number of people leaving the line.; Statistical analysis including OLS regression, fixed effects models, and negative binomial regression.
Full Abstract
This paper is the result of a nationwide study of polling place dynamics in the 2016 presidential election. Research teams, recruited from local colleges and universities and located in twenty-eight election jurisdictions across the United States, observed and timed voters as they entered the queue at their respective polling places and then voted. We report results about four specific polling place operations and practices: the length of the check-in line, the number of voters leaving the check-in line once they have joined it, the time for a voter to check in to vote (i.e., verify voter’s identification and obtain a ballot), and the time to complete a ballot. Long lines, waiting times, and times to vote are closely related to time of day (mornings are busiest for polling places). We found the recent adoption of photographic voter identification (ID) requirements to have a disparate effect on the time to check in among white and nonwhite polling places. In majority-white polling places, scanning a voter’s driver’s license speeds up the check-in process. In majority nonwhite polling locations, the effect of strict voter ID requirements increases time to check in, albeit modestly.
Citation
Stein, Robert, Zachary Birenbaum, Farhan Kawsar, Charles Stewart III, Gayle Alberda, R. Michael Alvarez, Emily Beaulieu, Nathaniel A. Birkhead, Frederick Boehmke, Joshua Boston, Barry C. Burden, Francisco Cantu, Rachael Cobb, David Darmofal, Thomas C. Ellington, Charles J. Finocchiaro, Michael Gilbert, Victor Haynes, Brian Janssen, David Kimball, Charles Kromkowski, Elena Llaudet, Christopher Mann, Ken Mayer, Matthew R. Miles, David Miller, Lindsay Nielson, Yu Ouyang, Costas Panagopoulos, Andrew Reeves, Min Hee Seo, Corwin Smidt, Rachel VanSickle-Ward, Abby Wood, and Julie Wronski. 2020. "Waiting to Vote in the 2016 Presidential Election: Evidence from a Multi-County Study." Political Research Quarterly 73(2): 439-453. https://doi.org/10.1177/1065912919832374
- Venue
- Political Research Quarterly
- Volume
- 73
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 439-453
- DOI
- 10.1177/1065912919832374