Minorities Had A Longer Wait To Vote Than Whites

Most people didn't have to wait a long time at the polling stations to vote in the recent election. About 80% of the public said they waited 10 minutes or less. Another 14% said they waited between 10 and 30 minutes, and 6% said they waited longer than 30 minutes. That's better than I had expected.

But there is one troubling, though expected fact. Minorities (Blacks and Hispanics) waited longer than Whites did to vote. About 82% of Whites waited less than 10 minutes to vote, while the figure was 72% for Blacks and 70% for Hispanics. About 9% of Blacks and Hispanics had to wait longer than 30 minutes, while only 5% of Whites waited that long.

Is this because Republican officials put fewer polling stations in minority areas (hoping some would give up on waiting and leave instead of voting)? Probably. That's just one of the ways the Republicans tried to suppress the minority vote.

The chart above represent results found in a Pew Research Center survey -- done between November 7th and 16th of a national sample of 10,640 voters, with a 1.7 point margin of error.