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Voting Wait Time and Line Length

Following the 2012 presidential election, where many voters reported long wait times to vote, President Obama created a bipartisan commission to study problems with polling place wait times. While wait times have improved in many jurisdictions since that time, some voters still face unreasonable delays to cast their vote. MAP relied on research and data from the MIT Election Data + Science Lab’s Election Performance Index for this map and the information below. Please note the most current data is drawn from the 2020 election.
United States Map
Washington New York U.S. Virgin Islands Puerto Rico Guam Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands American Samoa New Hampshire Vermont Virginia Pennsylvania New York Maine West Virginia Ohio Kentucky Indiana Michigan Illinois Wisconsin North Carolina South Carolina Tennessee Georgia Florida Mississippi Missouri Arkansas Louisiana Iowa Minnesota Oklahoma Kansas Nebraska South Dakota North Dakota Texas 33 Colorado Wyoming Montana Idaho Arizona Utah Nevada Oregon California Hawaii Alaska Massachusetts Rhode Island Connecticut New Jersey Delaware Maryland Washington D.C. New Hampshire Vermont
  • Average voting wait time in 2020 over 11.6 minutes (21 states)
  • Average voting wait time in 2020 11.6 minutes or less (29 states + D.C.)
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Recommended citation: Movement Advancement Project. "Voting Wait Time and Line Length." https://www.mapresearch.org/democracy-maps/polling_place_line_length. Accessed 12/22/2024.

Breakdown by Population

*Note: These percentages reflect the voting-eligible population, as reported by the United States Election Project.

55%

55 % of population lives in states whose average voting wait time in 2020 over 11.6 minutes

45%

45 % of population lives in states whose average voting wait time in 2020 11.6 minutes or less



Data current as of 12/22/2024
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