Voters face challenges casting ballots on unconventional Election Day

Prior to Nov. 3, over 100 million people had already voted.

But problems persist with some voters facing not-so-smooth experiences in trying to exercise their right to vote on Nov. 3. We will continue monitoring the issues, concerns, and challenges being faced on this year’s Election Day.

Election Protection, a nonpartisan coalition of voting rights activists, is encouraging anyone who faces an issue or encounters problems with casting their ballot to get in touch with them.

GENERAL NEWS

NBC News is reporting that in Pennsylvania, a crucial battleground state with 20 electoral votes, the Trump campaign has requested highly specific information from at least three counties regarding ballot storage information and locations and how they’re being transported.

County commissioners say it “is not a normal request,” but the campaign suggests the request is so it “can gain a detailed understanding of voting processes.”

Pennsylvania Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar encouraged counties not to provide such details to third parties.

In Upshur County, Texas, voters had issues casting a ballot due to machines not working for a brief part of the day. The issue was brought to attention by Hank Gilbert, a Democratic House candidate for the state’s 1st Congressional District.

The Upshur County Elections Office confirmed to the Washington Examiner that the problem had been resolved when we reached out to them at 11:30.

LONG LINES

Some voters are experiencing long queues to vote on Election Day.

A voter shared footage of a socially distanced line in New York City early this morning, which was shared by ABC News.

Mississippi Senate candidate Mike Espy, a Democrat, reported seeing longer lines than he’s experienced before while casting his vote early this morning.

In battleground Pennsylvania, voters were waiting in long lines in Philadelphia before polls even opened.

CNN is reporting that Mainers have been standing in the snow and cold weather this morning to cast their ballot. Fortunately, voters there didn’t have to wait too long to get into the polling place, according to the report.

To practice social distancing, CNN correspondent Evan McMorris-Santoro says the polling place in Brewer, Maine, was only allowing 30 people in at a time.

COMBATING MISINFORMATION

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel warned of misinformation that urged voters dealing with long lines to go home and vote tomorrow. That’s false. Nov. 3 is the last chance to cast a ballot.

Later reports by the New York Times’s cybersecurity reporter Nicole Perlroth noted that voters in Flint, Michigan, have also received threatening calls telling voters to stay home or face arrest at the polls. The same calls have been reported in Iowa.

Perlroth reported a disinformation campaign aimed at voters in Dearborn, Michigan, is warning voters of “scantron” issues and telling voters to fill in the opposite candidate they want for president for it to count for their real choice. The text messages are signed from the “Federal Berue of Investigation.”

With all eyes on Pennsylvania, the state was identified as an early focus of Election Day misinformation targeting.

The Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office on Tuesday dismissed tweets coming from a GOP operative and a Newsmax columnist as being intentional in spreading false information.

The tweets, shared over 10,000 times by Tuesday afternoon, claimed a sign in support of Biden violated election rules because of its proximity to a polling location.

“Members of our Election Task Force have investigated this allegation,” the city’s DA’s office tweeted. “This polling place is located in an interior room and the sign in question is further than 10 feet from it. This tweet is deliberately deceptive.”

A Twitter spokesperson confirmed to CNN that Twitter has taken action on multiple tweets and videos containing possible election misinformation in Pennsylvania.

Additional claims that someone was intentionally throwing out Trump ballots have also been disputed by the Erie County Board of Elections.

The board said the person making the claims is not believed to be a resident of Erie County and is not a registered voter.

“The person making the statements does not work in any way with Erie County or have any part of Erie County’s election process,” the board said in a statement.

MAIL DELAYS

John Kruzel, the Hill’s Supreme Court reporter, tweeted that the Postal Service is reporting delayed delivery of mail-in ballots in critical battleground areas, including Michigan, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina.

He reports that ballots that arrive after 8 p.m. in Michigan will be invalid.

There are 28 states that will not accept ballots arriving after Election Day even if they’re postmarked before Nov. 3.

This afternoon, Reuters reported a U.S. judge on Tuesday ordered the Postal Service to conduct a sweep of some processing facilities to make sure no ballots have been held up. The judge ordered that any discovered ballots must immediately be sent out for delivery.

U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan ordered inspectors to conduct sweeps in several cities and states, including Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Arizona, and Florida.

VOTER INTIMIDATION CONCERNS

President Trump’s director of Election Day Operations, Mike Roman, organized several volunteers to monitor voting today in Democratic-leaning areas. According to USA Today, the Trump campaign is claiming to have recruited 50,000 poll watchers, most who were registered through Army for Trump, which asks volunteers to “enlist” in the president’s fight for reelection.

The campaign has full-time staff in over 10 swing states organizing these efforts. Some experts say these efforts may discourage voters from turning up at the polls.

In North Carolina, a federal lawsuit led by the American Civil Liberties Union is accusing police of voter intimidation after they used pepper spray on people during a get-out-the-vote rally on Saturday.

Philadelphia officials are denying an allegation by a Trump campaign official who accused the city of excluding Republican poll watchers from voting sites, according to ProPublica.

The claim came after a video on social media appeared to show a Republican poll watcher being turned away from a Philadelphia polling place.

Kevin Feeley, a spokesman for the Philadelphia City Commissioners, said the incident in the video was isolated and was a result of confusion about whether poll watchers had to be assigned to particular locations or could go anywhere in the city.

Feeley said poll watchers are allowed to visit multiple voting sites.

“The mistake was corrected, and the guy was admitted,” Feeley said. “We remain confident that the election will be open, honest, and produce accurate results.

We will update this throughout the day.