Problems remain isolated as voters stream to the polls
ARLINGTON, Va. – Isolated technology glitches, honest human errors and deliberate robocall efforts to suppress voting kept poll watchers and voters vigilant on one of the most divisive and bizarre Election Days in modern history.
A whopping 101 million ballots were cast before the first poll sites opened Tuesday. University of Florida professor Michael McDonald, who specializes in such things, projects that a recordsmashing 160 million votes will ultimately be counted, aided by historic early and mail-in voting.
All this despite President Donald Trump’s unsubstantiated warnings about violence and “rampant” cheating, particularly aimed at mail-in ballots. Trump’s claims cast a shadow over a nation already reeling under the strain of a pandemic that has infected almost 10 million Americans, killed 230,000 of them and shows no signs of abating.
Former Vice President Joe Biden blasted the tactics of Trump and other Republicans as voter suppression.
“We are in a battle for the soul of the nation,” Biden tweeted Tuesday. “And you have the ultimate power to determine the outcome: your vote. Use it.” And voters on both sides did that. In Brooklyn, Georgina Rodriguez, 42, said she voted for Biden. Her father died from the virus this year, she has young children, and she said Trump hasn’t prioritized public health in the pandemic. “The money doesn’t matter right now,” she said of the economy. “I didn’t have my father for Father’s Day this year. You should not play with people’s health.”
In Chicago, Joe Sullivan said he voted for Trump. Sullivan, 35, said the pandemic is overblown and that he’d like to see businesses open up. “I know a few people who had COVID, and they pretty much say they got over it the same way as a cold,” he said.
There were some issues. A federal judge in Washington, D.C., ordered an immediate sweep of 12 postal districts searching for undelivered ballots after the Postal Service said in court that about 300,000 ballots it had received had not been scanned for delivery.
In Pennsylvania, some poll sites opened late and had long lines, particularly in Philadelphia.
“We’ve also received complaints about voter intimidation and yelling about mask requirements,” said Kristen Clarke, executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, which has battled in the courts to expand voting access.
The committee detailed some Election Day complaints from around the country handled by its hotline. In Virginia, there were reports of poll workers wearing Trump masks. In Ohio, some polling sites did not open on time and some had to switch to paper ballots, which officials feared might run out before polls closed. In North Carolina, four precincts opened late and were told by election officials to expand voting hours, delaying the state’s release of voting results.
Pennsylvania, Florida and Michigan — battleground states — drew the highest volume of complaints. Many were standard fare for the day, such as glitches with voting machines. But in Michigan, Attorney General Dana Nessel tweeted that her office had reports of multiple robocalls to Flint residents that said, because of long lines, they should vote on Wednesday.
“Obviously this is FALSE and an effort to suppress the vote,” Nessel tweeted. “No long lines and today is the last day to vote. Don’t believe the lies! Have your voice heard!”
Department of Homeland Security officials said Tuesday that there was no indication that foreign interference had compromised early voting, and they reaffirmed that the American election system was secure.
Still, some extremist groups had vowed to descend on polling places if reports of voter fraud surfaced.
Trump had menacing words for governors he implied would cheat to try and halt his reelection bid. On Monday, he tweeted that the U.S. Supreme Court decision involving Pennsylvania — tentatively allowing some absentee ballots received after Election Day to be counted — would prompt fraud and violence. Twitter flagged the post, calling it misleading.
A variety of issues drove voters to the polls.
Elsa Mercado, 70, fled Nicaragua 33 years ago with her four children, so desperate to escape the political repression and bloodshed there that she snuck into the U.S. and lived as an undocumented immigrant for 10 years.
But Mercado, a Trump supporter who lives in Miami, has no sympathy for undocumented immigrants or asylum seekers trying to reach the U.S. today, saying that they’re more economic migrants who have no right to be in the U.S. “The house is full,” she said. In Mount Airy, a historically diverse community in northwest Philadelphia, Dickie Fontaine was one of the first in line at her polling location. The 75-yearold retired school teacher braved 40 degree temperatures and whipping winds as she waited for the doors to open at 7 a.m. so she could vote for Biden.
Fontaine, who is Black, said she felt she was carrying on the legacy of her grandparents and great-grandparents who fought for the right to vote in North Carolina.
“If they could stand out and be beaten and suffer trying to vote, I can certainly stand in line,” Fontaine said. “I wanted to make this personal. I wanted to be here.”