In May, the MIT Election Data & Science Lab released results from the Survey of the Performance of American Elections (SPAE). That survey provides information about how Americans experienced voting in the most recent federal election. The survey has been conducted after federal elections since 2008.
Contrary to the unfounded narrative that certain states are enacting exclusionary voting policies, extraordinarily high percentages of Americans are satisfied with their voting experience. Among those who voted on Election Day, for instance, 98 percent said they had no problems with registration when they tried to vote, 97 percent did not encounter any problems with the voting equipment, 83 percent said the polling place was very well-run, and 70 percent said the performance of the poll workers at the polling place was excellent. The average Election Day voter waited six minutes before voting; the average early voter waited four minutes.
Ninety-nine percent of mail voters stated there were no problems in getting their absentee or mail ballot sent to them, 99 percent stated they encountered no problems marking or completing their ballot, and 82 percent said it was very easy to follow all the instructions necessary to cast their ballot and return it.
