Election authority is shared by federal, state, and local officials in the United States, but election administration is highly decentralized and varies among state and local jurisdictions. Federal election laws have been enacted that include provisions pertaining to voter registration, protecting the voting rights of certain minority groups, and other areas of the elections process. States regulate various election activities, including some requirements related to these laws, but generally delegate election administration responsibilities to local jurisdictions. Congressional authority to regulate elections derives from various constitutional sources, depending upon the type of election, and Congress has passed legislation in major functional areas of the voting process, such as voter registration, as well as prohibitions against discriminatory voting practices. For example, the Help America Vote Act (HAVA)—enacted in October 2002—includes a number of provisions related to voter registration, voting equipment, and other election administration activities, and authorized the appropriation of funds to be The act authorized used toward implementing the law’s requirements. funding for states and jurisdictions to, among other things, meet the act’s requirements, including replacing punch card and mechanical lever voting equipment and creating and maintaining a centralized state voter registration database. Pub. L. No. 107-252, 116 Stat. 1666 (2002) (codified as amended at 42 U.S.C. §§ 15301-545). HAVA also established the EAC, an independent federal agency, to help improve state and local administration of federal elections. The EAC is charged with providing voluntary guidance to states regarding implementing certain HAVA provisions and serving as a national clearinghouse and resource for information with respect to the administration of federal elections, among other things. For example, the EAC issued guidelines that identified data that would be helpful in conducting postelection analysis, such as the average wait time for polling place voters by precinct, and best practices for designing ballots and voter information materials. In addition to HAVA, federal laws have been enacted in other areas of the voting process. For example, the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 expanded the opportunities for eligible citizens to apply to register to vote in federal elections by requiring states to allow registration by mail using the federal voter registration form and at state motor vehicle agencies and Also, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, as other specified public agencies. amended, contained, among other things, provisions designed to protect the voting rights of U.S. citizens of certain ethnic groups whose command of the English language may be limited. Language minority provisions in the act require covered states and covered jurisdictions to provide written materials—such as sample ballots or registration forms—in the language of certain “language minority groups” in addition to English, as well as other assistance, such as bilingual poll workers. The responsibility for the administration of elections resides at the state and local levels. States regulate various aspects of elections including, for example, registration procedures, absentee and early voting requirements, and Election Day procedures. Further, states are required by HAVA to implement a single, uniform, centralized, computerized statewide voter registration list to serve as the official voter registration list for conducting all elections for federal office in each such state. Within each state, responsibility for managing, planning, and conducting elections is largely a local government process, residing with about 10,500 local election jurisdictions nationwide. mandated statewide election administration guidelines and procedures that foster uniformity among the ways local jurisdictions conduct elections. Others have guidelines that generally permit local election jurisdictions considerable autonomy and discretion in the way they run elections. Although some states bear some election costs, local jurisdictions generally pay for elections. Local jurisdictions have discretion over such activities as training election officials and the purchase of voting technology (if not mandated by the state). Among other things, local election officials register eligible voters and maintain voter registration lists; design ballots; educate voters on how to use voting technology and provide information on the candidates and ballot measures; arrange for polling places; recruit, train, organize, and mobilize poll workers; prepare and test voting equipment for use; count ballots; and certify the final vote count. States can be divided into two groups according to how election responsibilities are delegated. The first group contains 41 states that delegate election responsibilities primarily to the county level, with a few of these states delegating election responsibilities to some cities, and 1 state that delegates these responsibilities to election regions. The District of Columbia is included in this group of states. The second group contains 9 states that delegate election responsibilities principally to subcounty governmental units. These local election jurisdictions vary widely in size and complexity, ranging from small New England townships to Los Angeles County, whose number of registered voters exceeds that of many states. States have established alternatives for voters to cast a ballot other than at the polls on Election Day, including absentee voting and early voting. All states and the District of Columbia have provisions allowing voters to cast their ballots before Election Day by voting absentee, with variations on who may vote absentee, whether the voter needs to provide an excuse for requesting an absentee ballot, and the time frames for applying for and submitting absentee ballots. Some states also permit registered voters to apply for an absentee ballot on a permanent basis so that those voters automatically receive an absentee ballot in the mail prior to every election without providing an excuse or reason for voting absentee. In addition to absentee voting, some states allow early voting. In general, early voting allows voters from any precinct in the jurisdiction to cast their vote in person without providing an excuse before Election Day either at one specific location or at one of several locations. For the purposes of in-person voting on Election Day, election authorities subdivide local election jurisdictions into precincts. Voters generally cast their ballots at the polling places for the precincts to which they are assigned by election authorities. Within the polling place, there are three stages in the voting process—arrival, check-in, and marking and submitting ballots—and poll workers have roles and responsibilities associated with each of them.voting process. Various studies and research have been conducted on voter wait times. In general, these studies and research have used voter surveys, data on voter check-in and polling place closing times in individual jurisdictions, and the experiences of local jurisdictions to examine issues of voter wait times. For example, the Presidential Commission on Election Administration (Presidential Commission)—established by executive order in March 2013—issued a report in January 2014 identifying best practices in election administration and making recommendations to improve the voting experience and ensure that all eligible voters have the opportunity to cast their ballots without undue delay. In conducting its work, the Presidential Commission held public hearings that included academic researchers in the field of election administration and state and local election officials, among others, and surveyed local election officials nationwide regarding a number of issues, including voter wait times. Moreover, various researchers have used postelection voter survey data to examine wait time issues, as there is currently no comprehensive set of data that tracks Election Day wait times across precincts nationwide. Two nationwide postelection public opinion surveys in particular have included questions on wait times experienced by voters. The Survey of the Performance of American Elections (SPAE), conducted in 2008 and 2012, is an Internet survey of 200 registered voters in each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia. their experiences voting—in person on Election Day, in person prior to Election Day, and absentee—including, for those who reported voting in person, the length of time they recalled waiting in line to vote. The CCES, an Internet survey of U.S. citizens aged 18 and over, has been administered since 2006.surveys to estimate individual voter wait times by state, the effect of wait times on the voter experience, and the relationship between demographic characteristics and wait times, among other things. Researchers have used data from these In addition, some researchers have conducted postelection studies of wait time issues for specific states. For example, researchers have assessed the extent of long voter wait times in Maryland, Florida, and other states using data such as voter check-in times, polling place closing times, and information from voter surveys. The SPAE is conducted by Charles Stewart III, Professor of Political Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The total sample size for the 2012 SPAE survey was 10,200 people. Estimates from our nationwide survey of local election jurisdictions indicate that most jurisdictions did not collect data that would allow them to calculate voter wait times at individual polling places on the November 2012 General Election Day. Our survey found that jurisdictions did not collect these data primarily because wait times have not been an issue. However, some jurisdictions nationwide did collect selected types of wait time data that election officials and researchers have identified would be helpful in measuring wait times. Officials in the jurisdictions we selected for interviews and researchers have measured wait times using various practices, such as the length of time polling places remained open after designated closing times. In addition, estimates from our survey indicate that a small percentage of jurisdictions nationwide had long voter wait times at more than a few polling places on Election Day 2012. On the basis of our survey, we estimate that 78 percent (from 74 to 83 percent) of local jurisdictions nationwide did not collect, receive, or have available information that would allow them to calculate voter wait times that occurred at individual polling places on Election Day 2012. Of these jurisdictions, we estimate that 79 percent (from 73 to 84 percent) did not collect this information because, as discussed later in this report, voter wait times have not been an issue. Some jurisdictions did collect some types of wait-time-related information that election administration researchers and state and local officials have said could be helpful in measuring wait times. On the basis of our survey, we estimate that officials in jurisdictions nationwide most commonly collected, received, or had available the types of information for Election Day 2012 shown in table 1, such as the number of votes cast at a precinct during a specified time period. These jurisdictions may not have collected these data across all individual polling places.