Special from the Trice Edney News Wire

Black voters wait longer to cast ballots, discouraging them from voting, according to a study released by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies in Washington.

The report, titled “Reducing Long Lines to Vote,” reported African-Americans waited an average of 23 minutes to vote, compared with 19 minutes for Hispanics, 15 minutes for Asians, 13 minutes for Native Americans and 12 minutes for white people.

The Joint Center, led by Spencer Overton, a George Washington University law professor, released its report just prior to the 2016 presidential election on Nov. 8.

During the Congressional Black Caucus Dinner in Washington in September, President Obama told the black-tie audience that it would be a personal insult to his legacy if the black community lets down its guard and fails to activate itself in the election.

There is a push to get a strong African-American voter turnout for Hillary Clinton, the Democratic Party nominee for president. Mrs. Clinton still holds an overwhelming lead among African-American voters, according to recent polls that have her at 90 percent or more.

Her Republican opponent, Donald J. Trump, has little support among African-Americans and other minority groups.

Recent polls have shown that black women voters may hold the key to the presidential election because of their high pattern of turnout for elections.

The Associated Press reported that in 2008, black voter turnout exceeded white voter turnout for the first time. And in 2012, African-Americans again turned out more than white voters.

In 2008, young black voters had a higher turnout than other young people, and black women voted in higher proportion than any other demographic group.

The Joint Center said one study estimated that long lines deterred at least 730,000 people from voting in the 2012 presidential election.

In Florida, a key state in the presidential election, wait times averaged 42 minutes compared with wait times of 6 minutes in New Jersey.

Florida’s Miami-Dade County had the highest percentage of people of color. In Miami-Dade, 85 percent of voters had voting wait times that averaged 73 minutes after the polls closed.

By comparison, Citrus, the Florida county with the lowest percentage of people of color, had no lines when the polls closed, the Joint Center reported.