We'll be on the lookout all day for issues across the country related to voter suppression & voter access. There's already plenty of buzz about potential spread of misinformation, as well as issues falling in the category of unforeseen events, non-functioning machines, etc.
A polling place in Brooklyn, NY, was delayed in opening this morning for about 90 minutes because poll workers could not open an electronic lock on the building, via my colleague @gregorywallace
Rhode Island Board of Elections tweeted this morning that "several polls opened a bit late due to pollworkers not reporting for duty or issues entering a complex password to start the voting machine."
And in Pittsburgh, the Carnegie Library polling site was delayed in getting up and running due to a medical emergency. Emergency paper ballots were sent to the location.
Another issue we're seeing crop up: humidity! North Carolina state board of elections says humidity appears to be causing problems in feeding some ballots through tabulators.
An Arlington, Texas voting location didn't have enough paper ballots: A voter tells CNN that the electronic voting machines were not working and she was told they did not have any ballots. "Once that info was shared, most of the people in line decided to leave."
Reports of broken scanners, long lines and late poll-site openings in tri-state area:
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Richland County (SC) Elections Director Rokey Suleman tells me they're seeing a “higher frequency” of calibration issues today for voting machines that are ~14 years old (ie voter will touch screen to choose a candidate, but screen thinks they're choosing different candidate)
Suleman says technicians are out in the field now to recalibrate the machines with reported calibration issues.
Rev. Jesse Jackson tells me he was at the Pittman Park polling site in Georgia all morning where there only appeared to be three machines, and the lines were incredibly long. He said it was "inhumane" how some people in wheelchairs or on dialysis had to wait so long.
Jesse Jackson also decried what he said was “overt racism” that he has seen from President Trump and Republican candidates during this cycle. “People have to ignore that and focus on keep their eyes on the prize,” Jackson said.
Because voting is important: When the lone voting machine on Prudence Island, RI stopped working this morning, officials delivered a replacement machine by ferry, @gregorywallace reports. The island has 176 registered voters according to the state's deputy director of elections.
