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Will aging voting machines cause more voters to experience long waits?

Author

Listed:
  • Kumar, Sameer
  • Yang, Muer
  • Goldschmidt, Kyle H.

Abstract

As the majority of voting machines in use today approach or exceed their expected lifetime, an increased number of voting machine failures are expected in upcoming elections. This study examines and quantifies the impact of less reliable voting machines, due to age, on the number of voters waiting longer than 30-min. G/G/s queue approximation and discrete event simulation are used in the analysis. Results show that if reliability measures — mean time between failures, mean time to repair, and availability — are within certain interval ranges, no additional voting machines are needed to ensure that no more than 5% of voters wait for longer than 30 min. However, significantly more voters would have long waits if the reliability of voting machines is poor. Accordingly, less reliable voting machines do not necessarily cause more voters to experience long waits. The proposed closed-form approximation formula and the simulation model are practical tools for election officials to evaluate the impact of less reliable voting machines on voting lines.

Suggested Citation

  • Kumar, Sameer & Yang, Muer & Goldschmidt, Kyle H., 2018. "Will aging voting machines cause more voters to experience long waits?," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 198(C), pages 1-10.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:proeco:v:198:y:2018:i:c:p:1-10
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpe.2018.01.027
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Yang, Muer & Wang, Xinfang (Jocelyn) & Xu, Nuo, 2015. "A robust voting machine allocation model to reduce extreme waiting," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 57(PB), pages 230-237.
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    5. Xinfang (Jocelyn) Wang & Muer Yang & Michael J Fry, 2015. "Efficiency and equity tradeoffs in voting machine allocation problems," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 66(8), pages 1363-1369, August.
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