The right to vote (and not to wait) Four questions. In the past decade, two presidential elections in the United States have witnessed very long wait times at precincts (voting stations) in states that ultimately decided the election (Florida in 2000 and Ohio in 2004). In Philadelphia as well, some voters complained about the long lines in some precincts, with most complaints coming from precinct A. In 2004, the average number of voters arriving at Precinct A was 35 per hour and the arrivals of voters was random with inter-arrival times that had a coefficient of variation of 1 (CVa=1). Philadelphia deployed 1 voting machine in Precinct A. Suppose that each voter spent on average 100 seconds in the voting booth (this is the time needed to cast her/his vote using a voting machine), with a standard deviation of 120 seconds. Q1. How long on average did a voter have to wait in line at precinct A in 2004 before entering a booth to cast her/his vote? Given the long wait times for Precinct A, the city of Philadelphia is thinking of alternative solutions to improve voting conditions. One of the proposed solutions is as follows. Proposal 1: Deploy an additional voting machine to precinct A. Assume that the voter turnout is expected to have similar characteristics in 2008 as in the previous election. Q2. Under Proposal 1, how long on average would a voter have to wait in line at precinct A in 2008 before casting her/his vote? Q3. Under Proposal 1, at precinct A, what would be the ratio of the average number of people voting (at a booth) over the average number of people in the line (waiting)? 2 Q4. Suppose Proposal 1 is rejected and that only one machine will be deployed in precinct A. As a sign of protest, voters at precinct A decide to adopt the following rule: if the voting machine is busy, the voter will not vote and will leave (and not vote at all). What is the expected number of people who will end up voting on election day in precinct A? (Assume that the voting station accepts voters for 12 hours from 8:00 am to 8:00 pm). Choose the correct alternative. a. Less than 50 b. Between 50 and 100 c. Between 100 and 150 d. Between 150 and 250 e. Between 250 and 350 f. Between 350 and 450 g. Between 450 and 500 h. More than 500 i. There is not sufficient information to answer the