Report finds states cutting wait times for voters
Voters across the country waited less time in line to cast their ballots in 2012 than in 2008, a sign that states were doing a better job at running elections, says a report released Tuesday by the Pew Charitable Trust's Election Initiatives.
The elections index rates how well states conducted the 2012 elections according to 17 criteria, including whether voters can register or find voting information online, how long they have to wait in line, how many voters must use provisional ballots, the handling of mail-in, military and overseas ballots, voter registration rate and turnout. Forty states improved their ratings from the 2008 election, according to the Pew report.
Average wait time at polls inched down about three minutes, from more than 14 minutes in 2008 to just over 11 minutes in 2012, according to Pew's Elections Performance Index. South Carolina, which had waits of more than an hour in 2008, cut its time to about 25 minutes. Florida's waiting time was the worst, and at 45 minutes it was far longer than the 29 minutes voters waited in 2008.
Last May, Florida passed legislation to increase the number of early voting locations and hours — reversing a 2011 cutback to early voting that was blamed for the long lines. "The previous practices reviewed in the report no longer reflect today's voting laws because of last year's reforms,'' Secretary of State Ken Detzner said in a statement.
Top performer in the Pew rankings: North Dakota, which also was rated tops in 2010's midterm elections and in 2008. The state does not require voter registration and doesn't use provisional ballots — used in other states when a voter's registration is in question. Minnesota, Wisconsin and Colorado also received high ratings.
Rated last: Mississippi, which also came in last in the 2010 and 2008 rankings. For one thing, the state does not collect much data on election performance, the Pew report said.
A spokeswoman for Mississippi's elections division, Pamela Weaver, declined to comment, saying she had not read the full report.
The three reports have shown consistency in states' performance, good or bad, Pew Election Initiatives director David Becker said. States consistently in the bottom quarter of rankings are Alabama, California, Mississippi, New York, Oklahoma and West Virginia.
State budget woes are not to blame for poor election administration, Becker says. "It's not a financial issue. I think what we're seeing is there are legislative and regulatory frameworks that might be resistant to reform … and there's also a mindset that goes on.'' States that have high ratings for election administration have tried hard to standardize procedures, collect data, and provide better guidance to election jurisdictions, Becker says. "That has really paid off.''
Easier voter registration — whether through online registration or same-day registration — results in fewer voting problems, the report says. In 2008, only Arizona and Washington state allowed voters to register online. By 2012, 13 states had online voter registration. Now, 20 states allow online registration.
"States that have highly mobile populations and have trouble keeping up with the mobility on their voter lists have problems at the polls," Becker says. "Keeping records up to date will resonate throughout the entire process.''
Georgia, ranked fourth in 2008, fell to 32nd place in 2012 — the biggest drop among 10 states whose performances declined. The state submitted less data and, since its online voter registration bill did not take effect until this year, it fared worse compared to other states that had implemented online registration.
The state upgraded its elections computer systems and could not retrieve all the data Pew wanted, said Jared Thomas, spokesman for the Georgia Secretary of State's office. The data will be available for future elections, he said. "We feel we're being as transparent as we possibly can,'' he said.