I love this day. Once every two years, the country can decide what direction it will go. I know these days the lines between Democrats and Republicans is almost nil but there are a few differences none the less. I hope everyone has gone out to vote. It’s one of the most important things you can do and it takes so little time.
Having said all that what I really love are all the screw ups that happen over the course of the day. I’m going to be listing them as they come in. Here is what I’ve found so far.
* New Jersey deputy attorneys general are monitoring four polling places in Patterson after the Republican Party complained about voting machines being pre-set or locked to vote for Democratic Sen. Robert Menendez. “So far, they have not seen the problem occurring,” one source said.
* The Associated Press quotes Colorado Democratic Party officials as saying that they’ll ask a state judge to keep Denver polling places open for two extra hours today. As NBC News has reported, computer problems have forced some voters to wait several hours, while others are reportedly being turned away.
* The morning was not without it’s problems, however. Voting was briefly stopped at one precinct in West Hartford because ballots had a wrong name on them in a state representative race. Dan Tapper from the secretary of state’s office told me voting was stopped “for less than an hour” and everything is up and running now. He couldn’t say how many people had been turned away from the polling place. Twenty-nine people voted on machines with the incorrect ballots, and those machines are now locked down.
* Is today going to get any crazier? NBC affiliate WAVE-TV is reporting on a poll worker, at a Ford auto plant union hall in Kentucky, who apparently choked a voter. WAVE has been told that this poll worker has been arrested.
* COLUMBUS, Ohio - Here in the Buckeye State, the focus is not so much on the individual races but on the voting process, which was beset by problems during the 2004 presidential election. Already today, issues have been reported around the state with electronic voting machines, optical scanners, long lines and voter identification.
Two Republican House members reportedly encountered difficulties at their respective polling stations. U.S. Rep. Steve Chabot was said to be turned away for not having proper identification, and Rep. Jean Schmidt could not get the scanner to accept her ballot.
* We’ve received reports of problems with voting machines in Florida, Indiana and Utah—and one car that ran into a polling place in Springfield, OH. NBC affiliate WDTN reports there was “some damage” to the building, but people inside don’t appear to have been hurt. The male driver also was not hurt—and was able to vote.
* Richmond, VA—Jean Jensen, Secretary of the Virginia State Board of Elections, confirms that the FBI is now looking into possible voter intimidation in the US Senate race between Republican incumbent George Allen and Democrat Jim Webb. Jensen says state officials alerted the Justice Department yesterday to several complaints of suspicious phone calls to voters that attempted to misdirect or confuse them about election day. She adds she has now been contacted by FBI agents. The FBI in Richmond refuses to comment.
