With a shortened window for early voting before the election, some voters endured a six-hour wait to cast their ballot. Voters in swing states Florida and Virginia faced intimidating lines on election day as well, including areas with strong turnout. According to a Hart Research poll sponsored by AFL-CIO, minorities and Democrats were more likely to experience these challenges than Republicans, with 16 percent of Obama voters waiting 30 minutes or more compared to 9 percent of Romney voters. African-Americans and Hispanics were the likeliest to experience longer lines, at 22 percent and 24 percent respectively. In 2008, African-Americans waited twice as long as white voters, according to an MIT survey.

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Dems push bill to prevent intimidation of minority voters

Determined to avoid a repeat of the GOP’s 2012 voter-suppression efforts, New York Sen. Kristen Gillibrand and Assistant Democratic House leader James Clyburn are pushing for the “Voter Empowerment Act,” which requires electronic voting machines to produce paper receipts, allows for voter registration on election days, creates a new national voter hotline, and criminalizes voter intimidation practices... 

Long lines and voter ID laws may have cost Democrats thousands of votes last fall...