Widespread voting issues plague battleground state as voters are blocked from casting ballots for Trump and Harris
Date: 2024-11-05LONG lines, severe weather, and potential Election Day blackouts have threatened polling sites nationwide as Americans get set to cast their ballots for the next president of the United States.
Polling sites across the East Coast have opened their doors to eligible voters hours after former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris made their final pitch to undecided voters in their closing arguments on Monday evening.
Aerial photos showed a line that stretched a block at The Coliseum polling site in St. Petersburg, Florida, early Monday.
In two battleground states, photos showed dozens of voters waiting in line at polling sites in Oakmont, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Pittsburgh, and Smyrna, Georgia, about 17 miles northwest of Atlanta.
Meanwhile, technical issues with voting machines in Louisiana and Indiana impacted voters planning to cast their ballots before work.
Voting machines for last names L-Z were down for nearly an hour at the Zachary Branch Library in Zachary, Louisiana, 16 miles north of Baton Rouge, CBS affiliate WAFB reported.
And in Hamilton County, Indiana, about 40 minutes north of Indianapolis, poll workers encountered technical issues with their tablets at several polling locations, according to Fox affiliate WXIN.
The issue was resolved at all polling sites about 20 minutes later after the locations received a new code for the machines.
Across Central Pennsylvania, voters began flagging issues with voting machines early Tuesday, claiming their ballots were not being read, according to ABC affiliate WTAJ-TV.
The board of election in Cambria County, Pennsylvania, learned of a software malfunction that prevented voters from casting their ballots.
Residents in Houston, Texas, and St. Louis County, Missouri, awoke to heavy rainfall as voters headed out to cast their ballots at their nearest polling site.
Over on the West Coast, a voting center in Oakland will be closed on Election Day after a red flag warning was issued in the area.
Alameda County announced on Monday that the Joaquin Miller Voting Center will be closed on Election Day.
Residents who were planning to vote at the location were asked to vote at the Montera Middle School voting site.
Voters can also vote by placing their ballot at a dropbox at Woodminster Market.
Two additional polling sites in the Bay Area are being threatened to face power outages by 7 pm local time on Election Day.
Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) said roughly 15,000 homes and businesses could be without power as the electrical company begins shutting off power to combat wildfire threats.
The power outages could potentially impact the Calphine Geothermal Visitor Center in Middletown in Lake County and Lakeside Elementary School in Los Gatos near Santa Clara.
A PG&E spokesperson reassured voters that the final vote count is not expected to be impacted by the shutoff, according to Newsweek.
What to know on Election Day…
- Donald Trump and Kamala Harris made their final pitches to supporters and undecided voters at a flurry of rallies on the eve of Election Day.
- Harris held several events in Pennsylvania on Monday while Trump crisscrossed across battleground states, holding rallies in Michigan, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania.
- Vice President-nominee JD Vance, joined by his wife and two of their three children, voted Tuesday morning at a Catholic church in Cincinnati, Ohio.
- Donald Trump returned to Florida, where he is expected to hold an election night watch party at the Palm Beach County Convention Center.
- Kamala Harris will make one final push on Election Day as she’s expected to participate in seven radio interviews in each swing state.
- Harris will hold an election night watch party at her alma mater, Howard University in Washington DC, where she will be joined by her running mate, Tim Walz.
Vice President Harris is making one final push on Election Day as she’s set to be a guest on seven radio interviews in each battleground state.
The Democratic presidential nominee, 60, told an Atlanta radio station on Tuesday morning that she focused on “making sure everybody knows the power of their voice through their vote.”
“I think this is an inflection point in terms of this is the moment where we have two very different visions of the future of our nation,” she said in an interview with The Big Tigger Morning Show.
Former President Trump returned to Florida on Tuesday morning after closing out his campaign at a rally in Pittsburgh.
Trump, 78, dismissed the polls that showed the race was close.
“Let everyone think it’s going to be tight as hell. Whether it is or not, you’ve got to go out, and you have to swamp them,” he told supporters in Pittsburgh on Monday night.
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