Hispanic Voters Waited the Longest to Vote in 2012

Hispanic voters waited the longest in November 2012 in Florida, according to a statewide study. The study was conducted by political scientists at Dartmouth University and the University of Florida and found a greater proportion of Hispanic voters closed later on Nov. 6 than precincts with predominantly white voters. Blacks had waits in some cases, but these were shorter than Hispanics.Black voters also waited for longer than white voters did.

The study will be submitted to a bipartisan election reform commission created by President Barack Obama. The commission will be meeting in December to discuss how to better avoid delays at the polls in future elections.

If we need a new criteria, one of the things we could look at is wait times, and whether or not certain racial groups are having longer lines, said Daniel Smith, of UF, who along with Michael Herron of Dartmouth conducted the study for Advancement Project, a left-leaning civil-rights advocacy organization.

Advancement Project is scheduled to testify in front of the Presidential Commission on Election Administration Friday in Miami.

Some voters in Miami-Dade County waited for five to eight hours before they could cast their ballots last November. A county review blamed an unusually long ballot and fewer early-voting days as some of the reasons why voters waited so long.

Voting lines weren't the same across the entire county though, and the study found waits to cast votes before Election Day were longer for Hispanics than any other ethnic group. The waits were longest the Saturday before Election Day, which was the last day of early voting.

There were clear racial patterns of long lines in Miami-Dade in early voting as well as Election Day, said Smith.