2012 Election Snapshot Maryland

2012 Election Snapshots

Over the past several months, Pew collected data about the 2012 presidential election from nearly every state and the District of Columbia. We used the findings to create a snapshot of each jurisdiction, focusing on how many people voted, how long they waited to cast their ballots, how they cast them, and how many ballots were not counted. These snapshots will be released over the coming months, five at a time, and the Election Data Dispatches will take a closer look at the latest snapshots each week.

2012 Election Snapshot - Maryland

Like the District of Columbia, Maryland had early voting in place for the first time during a presidential election, and more than 1 in 5 voters cast their ballots before Election Day. In 2008, with  absentee voting in place but no early voting, 1 in 13 voters cast ballots before Election Day.

Also similar to the District, even with a shift toward voting before Election Day, voters faced long lines. Maryland had the third-longest average wait at the polls nationwide, at 29 minutes. This was similar to the 26-minute average wait in the state in 2008. Legislation passed this May will increase the days allotted for early voting and the number of early voting locations beginning in 2014.