Wait times at the polls improve in 2016, but battle isn't over

Tweets about illegal voting and hacked voting machines may grab headlines, but the average voter is arguably more disrupted by a breakdown in the boring mechanics of running the polls.

After long lines marred the 2012 election, President Barack Obama reassured voters that it would get better during his acceptance speech:

"I want to thank every American who participated in this election. Whether you voted for the very first time or waited in line for a very long time -- by the way, we have to fix that. … You made your voice heard, and you made a difference," he said.

Obama created the Presidential Commission on Election Administration in 2013 by executive order, giving it the job of suggesting ways to make sure "voters have the opportunity to cast their ballots without undue delay."

The commission delivered a report chock-full of practical ideas, such as smoothing out the voter checklist task and using early voting to take the pressure off polls on Election Day. It provided local officials a waiting time simulator so they could figure out where to deploy limited resources.

How well did it work?

On average, fairly well.