Elex mess in Ga.
5-hr. waits in virus-marred prez primary
Under the pall of the coronavirus pandemic, Georgia Democrats headed to the voting booth on Tuesday in a chaotic primary for president and to pick a candidate for what could be a marquee matchup in their push to retake the Senate.
Voters waited as long as five hours to cast ballots in some Georgia precincts amid reports of voting machine malfunctions and high turnout in a state that President Trump and Democrat Joe Biden are expected to hotly contest in the fall.
Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger called the widespread problems “unacceptable” around lunchtime and launched an official investigation.
Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms slammed the major problems at in-person polling places as voting got underway in the heavily Democratic city.
“Line is out to the street … and their machines are not working either,” Bottoms tweeted.
“If you are in line, PLEASE do not allow your vote to be suppressed,” the mayor tweeted.
State Rep. William Boddie called it a “complete melty down” in Fulton County, Georgia’s most populous county. Heavily Democratic DeKalb County also saw major disruptions.
Democrats blamed the chaos on Raffensperger, suggesting that the GOP would be happy if relatively few voters cast ballots in Democratic strongholds.
Biden, the presumptive presidential nominee, was looking to pad his delegate lead with an expected rout over Sen. Bernie Sanders, who folded his campaign but is still on the ballot.
Jon Ossoff, 33, who narrowly lost a 2017 special election for a suburban Atlanta House of Representatives seat, is battling two other main contenders for the right to take on Republican Sen.
David Perdue in November.
Ossoff slammed the chaos at the polls as “mass disenfranchisement.”
Although Georgia has been controlled by the GOP for years, Democrats believe they have a shot at unseating Perdue, especially as anger at Trump rises.
Democrats likely need to flip at least four seats to retake control of the Senate where the GOP holds a 53-47 edge.
The election was delayed by the pandemic and unprecedented numbers are voting by absentee ballots. Many polling places were closed leading to long lines at those that were open.
Voting woes have caused major problems in nearly every state that has voted since thepandemicstruck,leading to widespread concerns about the general elections in the fall.
West Virginia voters also headed to the polls but there were few closely contested races there.
A second Georgia seat is also up for grabs after Sen. Kelly Loeffler was appointed to replace ailing GOP Sen. Johnnie Isakson.
Loeffler, who has faced criticism over her sale of stocks just before the pandemic hit, will face a stiff challenge from fellow Republican Rep. Doug Collins and several Democrats.
All the candidates in that race will be on the ballot in November, and the top two finishers will battle in a runoff election weeks later.