Study: Minorities faced longer wait times to vote in 2012

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Newly revealed data shows yet again that minority voters in Florida waited longer on average than their white counterparts to cast their ballots.

The report, commissioned by the Advancement Project and conducted by elections experts Daniel Smith and Michael Herron, showed that voter precincts where African-American and Latino voters cast ballots in higher concentrations than their white counterparts faced longer wait times.

In Miami-Dade County, where higher proportions of minority voters live, the polls were open an extra 73 minutes, on average, beyond closing time to accommodate voters still waiting to cast their ballots. However in Broward County, where more white voters cast ballots, polls were open only an extra 25 minutes on average.

“Despite all the factors that contribute to long lines, it is clear that Floridians had less access to the ballot box in 2012 because there were six fewer days of early voting,” Katherine Culliton-González, Director of Voter Protection for Advancement Project, said.

The report was one of many presented to a meeting of the Presidential Commission on Election Administration at a Friday meeting in Coral Gables, along with testimony from the authors behind a similar study that found those disparities in wait times occurred nationwide.

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