US Election Day voting ‘broadly normal’ despite some glitches, experts say | US elections 2024

Voting on Election Day this year went largely smoothly, despite some glitches typical of any election that some Republicans exploited to sow distrust in the voting process.

As with any election, there were a handful of administrative and technical errors that caused delays for a small number of voters. Elections in the United States are conducted at the local level, meaning that county election offices, which often have tight budgets, are responsible for overseeing the vote. It is not uncommon for something to temporarily go wrong, resulting in delays.

The most alarming development on Tuesday was more than 30 bomb threats at voting locations, including two that temporarily closed two polling locations in Georgia, according to CBS News. Both were “not credible” and came from Russia, said Georgian Foreign Minister Brad Raffensperger. As a result, voting hours have been extended at five polling locations in Fulton County.

“Overall, the vast majority of voters were able to cast their votes without any problems today. There were technical glitches and long lines in some places, but nothing out of the ordinary, and election officials were prepared and the safeguards they put in place allowed voting to continue with minimal disruption. One thing was different about this election. “It was deeply disturbing to see voters affected by bomb threats at the election,” said Lawrence Norden, director of the elections and governance program at the Brennan Center for Justice, a think tank. “Fortunately, election officials and law enforcement knew how to deal with the threats thanks to the training they had received over the past few years. These threats, many of which the FBI says are linked to Russian email domains, must be investigated and the perpetrators held accountable.”

The FBI said in a statement it was aware of bomb threats in several states, “many of which appear to have originated from Russian email domains.”

Virginia Kase Solomón, president and CEO of the watchdog group Common Cause, which monitored voting across the country on Tuesday, said: “With the exception of some of these extraordinary moments, such as the bomb threats … we have, by and large, experienced normalcy.” Things, that we know is happening.”

“Unfortunately, these things still happen in our election system, even though we have made so much progress on early voting and mail-in voting, among other things,” she added.

Donald Trump and his allies have sought in recent years to exploit routine errors in election administration to undermine confidence in US elections. They have also focused their disruption efforts on counting ballots after voting is complete.

The former president tried to spread misinformation about the voting process on Tuesday. “There is a lot of talk about massive FRAUD in Philadelphia. “Law enforcement is coming!!!,” he wrote in a post on Truth Social on Tuesday afternoon. “Philadelphia and Detroit! There are strong law enforcement!!!”

Seth Bluestein, a Republican election official in Philadelphia, debunked the claim on Twitter/X: “There is absolutely no truth to this claim. It’s another example of disinformation. The vote in Philadelphia was safe and secure. We are in regular contact with the RNC. We have responded to every report of election irregularities to ensure Philadelphians can vote safely and securely.”

In Allentown, Pennsylvania – a key battleground state – some voters waited more than six hours to cast their ballots after a polling place was understaffed and only had two voting machines. District officials deployed personnel and machinery to the site. A judge rejected a request from the Democratic National Committee to extend voting hours.

In Cambria County, Pennsylvania, which voted overwhelmingly for Trump in 2020, a judge extended voting by two hours on Tuesday night after a printing error meant ballots could not be scanned. Voters who were unable to cast their votes were given the opportunity to deposit their completed ballots in lockers. North Carolina’s state elections board also voted to extend voting times by 30 minutes in two precincts after minor glitches. Several polling places on the Navajo Nation in Arizona also had long lines after problems with printers.

According to Votebeat, Arizona’s Apache County was ordered by a court to keep nine polling places open for an additional two hours until 9 p.m. local time after the Navajo Nation filed a lawsuit seeking an extension of the deadline due to technical problems. There were problems with the ballot printers, leading to long lines that some voters abandoned. The Navajo Nation is a crucial area for Democrats in the state.

In Milwaukee, election officials are recounting 30,000 mail-in ballots after an observer noticed a board that should have been locked was open for tabulation, according to Votebeat. There was no evidence of tampering, but officials decided to recount the ballots anyway.

The co-chairs of the Republican National Committee, Michael Whatley and Lara Trump, used the error to stoke election fears.

“This is an unacceptable example of incompetent election administration in a key swing state: voters deserve better, and we unequivocally call on Milwaukee officials to do their jobs and count ballots quickly and effectively,” it said in a statement . “Anything else undermines voters’ trust.”