Multiple factors affected voter wait times on Election Day 2012, and their impacts
varied across jurisdictions. Specifically, GAO’s survey of local election
jurisdictions, review of wait time literature, and interviews with election officials
and researchers identified nine common factors that affected wait times.The specific impact of these nine factors depended on the unique circumstances
in each of the 5 local jurisdictions GAO selected for interviews, leading to
targeted approaches for reducing wait times where needed. For example,
according to election officials in 2 jurisdictions, lengthy ballots were the primary
cause of long wait times. In 1 of these jurisdictions, state constitutional
amendments accounted for five of its eight ballot pages on average, and since
the 2012 election, a state law was enacted that established additional word limits
to such amendments, which officials said could help reduce wait times. Another
jurisdiction that had ballots of similar length did not report long wait times.