Resources

This paper surveys local election officials to examine their knowledge of Election Day lines and the steps they take to address them, finding that data collection and resource flexibility are key to reducing wait times.

This paper reviews how voting systems that are not designed to support human perceptual and cognitive limitations pose a serious threat to accurate ballot recording, and have almost certainly altered election outcomes in the United States.

This report discuss Colorado's risk-limiting audit pilot in Arapahoe County including the audit design, scanner/ballot procedures, and lessons for statewide implementation.

This report provides federal guidance on accessibility standards for polling places under the Americans with Disabilities Act, the primary federal framework for polling place design.

This paper finds that Hispanic voters were more likely to abstain from voting after being reassigned to a different Election Day polling place than voters in other racial groups.

This tool uses queueing theory to calculate the minimum number of service stations (poll books, voting booths, etc.) at each step of the polling place process to meet a target maximum wait time. It offers both a web interface for simple models and a downloadable Excel spreadsheet for jurisdiction-wide planning across hundreds of polling places simultaneously.

This paper reviews evidence on the causes and consequences of long wait times at polling places, and discusses policy interventions that have been shown to reduce lines and improve the voter experience.

This resource is an open-access election management toolkit with calculators and tools to help election officials plan polling place resources, minimize wait times, and optimize poll worker and equipment allocation.

This paper analyzes the quantity and quality of poll workers, highlighting that performance, rather than numbers alone, is a key factor in voter satisfaction and the efficient conduct of elections.

This report provides guidance for local election officials on how to collect and use data to manage polling place resources more effectively, including diagnosing congestion and allocating voting machines and poll workers.

This guide walks election officials through how to make election technologies such as online voter registration, polling place apps, and electronic poll books accessible to people with disabilities. It introduces the POUR principles as a framework for evaluating accessibility, recommends a layered testing approach for election systems, and points to free accessibility tools.

This simulation tool estimates potential voter wait times based on projected turnout, average time to vote for a specific ballot and equipment, and average check-in time per voter. It helps officials understand how different combinations of resources and voter loads translate into line lengths.