[EL] do long lines occur more in black precincts?

[Lori Minnite]

There has been some work applying queuing theory from the operations 
management world to voting machine allocation.  For example, see: 
http://www.informs-sim.org/wsc09papers/305.pdf, and 
http://www.wheresthepaper.org/voterlines.pdf .  I think it's quite 
possible to measure wait times, simulate wait times and address the 
question of a racial bias in a reliable way.  This is a great project 
for those interested in moving forward a science of election 
administration.  If there are studies conducted by elections officials 
of the problem of wait times I'm not aware of them.

On 10/22/2012 11:38 AM, Michael Peshkin wrote:
> Back in '08 I published a study suggesting that long lines at polling 
> places may especially afflict black voters.
>
> Rick asked on this list "I'd be interested to hear from others if the 
> methodology of this study is sound (especially in its reliance on news 
> reports of long lines)."   After which I got pilloried.
>
> Now we're again about to see news footage of those determined black 
> voters in Ohio waiting in line for hours -- and nothing about the ones 
> who went home to feed the kids.
>
> Is it even possible to measure the wait time - vs - race statistics?   
> Are there practical yet methodologically sound sampling techniques?
>
> Has anyone ever done it?   What do you guess they would find?
>
> And would it matter?   Is the elasticity known, for turnout - vs - 
> wait time?
>
> --
>
> Article: 
> http://inthesetimes.com/article/4068/are_long_lines_the_new_poll_tax/
>
> Graph: 
> http://peshkin.mech.northwestern.edu/longlines/longlines-vs-black.pdf
>
> Discussion on this list: 
> http://mailman.lls.edu/pipermail/election-law/2008-December/date.html
>
>
>
>
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