The Root, April 2021
Black women have long been the most important voters for Democrats, and their electoral power has been crucial at the presidential level—just ask former President Barack Obama.
Democratic presidents, governors and other elected officials at various levels of government have Black women to thank for their positions and are keen to narrow in on this voting bloc come election time. We also know that, too often, Black people wait in line longer to vote than any other race of folks. That isn’t tenacity or grit; it is flat-out racism.
A recent study has quantified another fact we all knew to be true: Black women, in particular, wait in line longer to cast their ballots than other races.
An analysis by Costas Panagopoulos, a professor of political science and chair of the department of political science at Northeastern University, found that Black people were willing to wait more than three hours to vote or 197 minutes. Whites were willing to wait just under three hours or an average of 177 minutes. Asians came in third at 171 minutes and Latinx people clocked in at 146 minutes.
