Article · 2020

Political Research Quarterly

Waiting to Vote in the 2016 Presidential Election: Evidence from a Multi-Campus Study

Long lines at polling places reduce voter confidence in the fairness and efficiency of elections.

Robert Stein, 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

This publication situates Waiting to Vote in the 2016 Presidential Election: Evidence from a Multi-Campus Study within work on election administration, electoral politics, survey research.

Its central contribution is to show that long lines at polling places reduce voter confidence in the fairness and efficiency of elections.

It matters because the findings connect institutional choices to the way authority, public responsibility, and political behavior are experienced in practice.

  • Long lines at polling places reduce voter confidence in the fairness and efficiency of elections.
  • These effects are strongest among voters who experience delays and among historically marginalized groups.
Design
Article
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Political Research Quarterly 73 (2): 439-453.

Venue
Political Research Quarterly