Long lines, equipment failures in several states during historic US election day

8 Nov, 2016 19:13 / Updated 8 years ago

Voters waited up to an hour to cast their ballots for presidential candidates as long lines became a signature motif of Election Day in New York, Miami and Washington, DC. There have been some reports of voting irregularities at polling stations.

Over 200 million US citizens were registered to cast their votes on Election Day, with 50 million new registered voters since 2012.

Long lines stretched often a block long in parts of the New York, with voters waiting as long as an hour before entering the polling station. 

Lines in Millburn, New Jersey

Lines in San Francisco, California

There were long lines in Arlington, Virginia as voters tried to cast their ballots before working hours

And lines in Phoenix, Arizona

Poll organizers in New York allowed batches of people into the polling stations where they had to wait again before they could cast their vote.

Voting machine malfunction

Voting machine problems in at least one county in Southern Utah forced election officials to use paper ballots. The move could affect tens of thousands of voters, according to election officials. Utah accounts for six electoral votes.

Programming problems affected all voting in Washington County, with 52,000 registered voters are yet to cast their ballots. Utah Director of Elections Mark Thomas told the AP the programming problems were so far limited to one county. Election workers were trying to fix the computer problems so voters can vote later in the day.
There are about 80,000 total registered voters in Washington County. Some 28,000 have already cast their ballots through early voting.

In Pennsylvania, a swing state that accounts for 20 electoral votes, election judges in Clinton Township, Butler County confirmed to KDKA TV there were issues with two of their eight automated voting machines. Most of the issues came when people tried to vote straight party ticket.

One voter said when they wanted to vote for Republican Donald Trump their vote switched to Clinton.

“I went back, pressed Trump again. Three times I did this, so then I called one of the women that were working the polls over. And she said you must be doing it wrong. She did it three times and it defaulted to Hillary every time,” Bobbie lee Hawranko told KDKA TV.

Election officials said they have recalibrated the machine and are confident the problem is resolved.

Alleghany County also had some issues.
An election judge did now show up when the polls opened in Springdale Borough. Sheriff’s deputies eventually escorted her to site more than three hours after the polls opened.

Margaret Vernon had told deputies she was ill.

The Indiana Democratic Party sent out text messages to 2,000 voters sending them to the wrong polling places. Indiana gives 11 electoral votes

There have been some reports on voting irregularities on social media.

The Nation’s Ari Berman posted photos from a volunteer showing Trump supporters allegedly blocking the entrance to a poll site in Coral Springs, Florida, which if it did happen would be considered election fraud because it could be considered voter intimidation.

A tweet suggesting voter fraud posted by Emily Youcis shows two black men handing out campaign literature indicating to Democratic voters which number to select on the ballot.

Youcis wrongly identifies it as voter fraud. Voter fraud would be if someone attempted to impersonate someone else in order to vote.

What Youcis could have said was election fraud but her twitter video doesn’t show where the men where when they handed out campaign literature. It would not be election fraud unless it is near or inside the polling station.

A CBS reporter in Carbondale, Colorado reported election officials couldn't access the state voter system.

Voters told to come back later.

Voters can only vote on paper ballots due to state-wide outage.

Late on Tuesday, a fire broke out in a polling station in South Dakota which will delay that state's results.