Long Lines at the Polls in Fairfax County, VA

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A recently released report from the Bipartisan Election Process Improvement Commission of Fairfax County, VA, identified several reasons voters faced long lines at the polls during last November’s election.

Most significantly, fewer people cast absentee ballots and more people voted on Election Day than the county had prepared for. In 2012, 444,161 people voted in person on Election Day, compared with 416,889 in 2008, a 6.5 percent increase.

The report also found that long lines occurred because some poll workers did not show up on Election Day. Of the 23 precincts in which voting machines did not shut down until at least an hour after polls closed, 16 had fewer workers than they were assigned.