An Overlooked Cost : Disparities in Waiting Times at the Polls

With increasing economic inequality and widespread concerns about immigration, social justice and inequality within the electoral system have serious implications. This paper compares wait times at polling places in California's Santa Barbara County during the 2010 general midterm election. While differences in benefits gained by minorities versus whites, especially psychological benefits, have been explored, the costs of voting have not been included in much of the literature. Specifically, no one has looked at the possible differences in wait time experienced by different racial and ethnic groups. The goal is to determine if residents of lower income and racially heterogeneous neighborhoods experience a longer wait time compared with those who live in well off mostly white areas. This could shed light on reasons behind lower turnout rates for African Americans and Latinos. This research seeks to determine if racial and ethnic minorities incur higher costs to voting on election day due to longer lines and undertrained poll workers at polling sites in lower class ethnic neighborhoods. Measurements of wait times are taken at a sample of polling sites, and an exit poll is conducted focusing on the difficulty of the voting experience