2012 Election: Long Lines Kept 49,000 Florida Voters At Home [Report]

Sounds like there were problems with voting in Florida in the 2012 election after all.

Back in November, there were reports that Florida voters had to wait in line for up to nine hours in order to cast their ballot. Governor Rick Scott denied the reported difficulties at the polls, and said that it was “very good” that Floridians were able to get out and vote.

The 2012 election saw a new wave of voter fraud/suppression criticisms and conspiracies, and though very little of substance came from that line of rhetoric, a new study shows that tens of thousands of Florida voters did indeed turn back and go home because of the long voter lines.

Theodore Allen, associate professor of industrial engineering at Ohio State University, said that as many as 49,000 voters in Central Florida gave up on their candidate and went home because of problems at the polls. It wouldn’t have really mattered if they had stayed and voted anyway, as about 19,000 would have backed Romney with the rest of the votes going President Obama’s way.

That, and Romney would have lost even if he won Florida.

The Orlando Sentinel published the results of Allen’s research, and opined “that Obama’s margin over Romney in Florida could have been roughly 11,000 votes higher than it was, based just on Central Florida results. Obama carried the state by 74,309 votes out of more than 8.4 million cast.”

Since the elections, Scott has admitted that there might be a problem with Florida’s electoral infrastructure after all. He told CNN in December that “we’ve got to restore confidence in our elections,” and said that ballots were too long, polling places were too small, and the number of days set aside for early voting were too few.

What do you think? Are you surprised that Florida had trouble with yet another election?