Some Election Day irregularities but overall few glitches, lessons learned from 2020

Some Election Day irregularities occurred but there were few glitches overall, as lessons were learned from the 2020 general election.

Approximately six states had election irregularities on Election Day, most of which are swing states. Pennsylvania appeared to have the greatest variety of reported issues, and a county in New Jersey had significant issues with long lines at polling places. However, there did not initially appear to be significant issues in places such as Fulton County, Ga., and Maricopa County, Ariz., which have historically had numerous problems.

This election cycle, the GOP was quick to respond to reported irregularities, as lawyers were dispatched to address problems when they arose.

Going into an election with enormous consequences for the U.S. House, Senate, and White House, state officials and political parties faced numerous election integrity issues.

Election integrity problems ranged from denied access for poll watchers to voter machine issues that resulted in long lines at the polls.

Arizona

There were false bomb threats at four locations in Navajo County, Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes (D) said Tuesday.

“We have no reason to believe that any of our voters or any of our polling places are in any sort of jeopardy,” he said.

“This comes from one of our foreign enemies, namely Russia,” Fontes added. “They’ve been busy, I suppose.”

“We are aware there have been threats made not just in Arizona, but Georgia, Minnesota, Michigan and Wisconsin,” he explained.

“By all accounts, Election Day is going very well across most of the state,” Fontes said. “We do have some minor issues … and some issues that we are working through right now.”

Additionally, multiple polling locations in Navajo Nation in Apache County had technical issues with ballot-on-demand printers early Tuesday that resulted in long lines. Some locations had lines that were two-to-three hour long and voters were leaving without casting ballots. The Navajo Nation filed a lawsuit to have polling hours extended to 9 p.m., rather than closing at the scheduled time of 7 p.m.

Colorado

Local officials in Denver, Colo., are investigating reports of ballot and voter fraud. 

The ballots being investigated have irregularities, including mismatched signatures, ABC7 News reported.

The suspicious voting documents all came from an adult daycare address. These documents were reportedly sent to different counties throughout Colorado. 

Georgia

Georgia authorities said Tuesday that Russians appear to be behind fake bomb threats to two urban county polling places but that the threats haven't disrupted voting.

The hoax has affected polling places in Fulton County and Clayton County.

"These appear to be Russian-tied hoaxes and we have full investigations ongoing,” Jordan Fuchs, a spokeswoman for Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger told Just the News. Fuchs said the threats were made virtually and that there appears to be no bombs in either location. Voting continues unimpeded, she said.

Voting hours at polling locations in some counties were extended due to either late starts or false bomb threats. Polls in Georgia were originally scheduled to close by 7 p.m. Eastern Time, but polling locations in the counties of Cobb, Fulton, and Gwinnett were extended anywhere from 10 minutes to 58 minutes. Dekalb County was also looking to extend its voting hours due to a false bomb threat.

Meanwhile, a federal judge in Georgia rejected a request by the Republican National Committee on Tuesday to put aside some absentee votes that it argues were improperly collected.

The RNC sued seven heavily Democratic counties in George, Politico reports, arguing that, in accepting hand-delivered ballots, the counties had improperly collected them. State officials claim the practice is legal. 

U.S. District Judge R. Stan Baker, a Trump appointee, ruled that the RNC’s complaint was based on a misreading of state law, which the GOP were conflating “early voting,” which ended Friday, with absentee voting, which continues through Election Day. 

New Jersey

Voters experienced hours-long lines at polling places in Burlington County, with Rep. Andy Kim, the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate, saying he and his family waited two hours to cast their ballots Tuesday morning.

State Assembly Majority Whip Carol Murphy said that she waited about four hours to cast her ballot at a precinct in the county.

The opening of polling locations was delayed due to technical problems regarding the internet connectivity of electronic poll books. While the technical issues were resolved in the morning, they set precincts back as there has been high voter turnout and new voting machines that voters are unaccustomed to. Backup voting machines were deployed to some precincts.

The state attorney general’s office went to court and received an extension, allowing polling places to close at 9 p.m. in Burlington County, rather than 8 p.m. At one polling location, more than 300 people were still in line at 8:40 p.m., with a poll worker expecting that voting would not be completed before midnight. 

Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania's Cambria and Bedford counties, where then-President Trump trounced Democratic challenger Joe Biden four years ago, have had problems scanning ballots on Tuesday, the New York Post reported.

“The Cambria County Board of Election learned early this morning that a software malfunction in the County’s Electronic Voting System has prevented voters from scanning their ballots,” Solicitor Ron Repak said. 

He assured voters before a judge extended voting hours to 10 p.m. Tuesday that "all votes will be counted" whether by hand or "express voting machine[s]" electronically. 

WJAC also reported that officials told the court the "malfunction caused voters confusions, long lines of voters, and many individuals left the polling locations without casting a ballot," and "threatens to disenfranchise a significant number of voters in Cambria County." 

Bedford County officials were having problems with "voting tabulator machines in several precincts" but "have identified the issue and sent support teams to resolve the problem." They said the "ability to vote has not been impacted."

Republican poll watchers were initially "turned away" Tuesday morning in "Philadelphia, York, Westmoreland, Allegheny, Lehigh, Cambria, Wyoming, and Lackawanna Counties," RNC Chairman Michael Whatley posted on X.

However, after deploying GOP attorneys, "All of our poll watchers I’m happy to report are in, but look it’s a tight state and it’s a must-win state and I think, you know, we have seen so much emphasis put in that state," RNC Co-Chair Lara Trump said.

Democratic poll watchers in Allegheny County wearing "voter protection" badges inside polling places were ordered to remove them on Tuesday by a judge, following a GOP lawsuit. The judge ruled that the badges created confusion among voters as to whether those wearing them were county employees or poll watchers for a political party or candidate.

Whatley announced Tuesday night that one Pennsylvania county was going to stop counting ballots through the night until the RNC threatened a lawsuit.

"A legal victory in Pennsylvania: Centre County officials were planning to stop counting ballots throughout the night in violation of state law," Whatley posted on X. "We threatened to sue — and that was enough. Officials agreed to continue the count as required. Our attorneys will continue fighting to quickly eliminate issues at the polls as they arise!"

Wisconsin

Whatley announced on Tuesday that the city of Milwaukee will grant poll watchers full access to observe the voting process. 

The RNC filed a lawsuit Monday against the Milwaukee Elections Commission after the city announced that it would limit the number of poll watchers allowed at certain polling locations on Election Day. 

Milwaukee limited poll watchers at three early voting polling locations, according to the lawsuit.

Also, approximately 30,000 ballots cast by Milwaukee voters will have to be recounted due to a glitch in a tabulator.

City spokesperson Jeff Fleming, a local Fox News affiliate reported, said Tuesday that the doors to 13 sealed tabulators failed to close properly, impacting early absentee and in-person ballots. 

The opened ballots will need to be reprocessed, which could take hours, the city said. 

Prior to Election Day

This presidential election is expected to be close, as the RealClearPolitics polling average shows former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris tied nationally at 48.5%.

Honest Elections Project Executive Director Jason Snead previously told Just the News that delays in election results will likely occur with a close race, and the swing states of Arizona and Pennsylvania are likely to be delayed in announcing presidential election results.

Amid the close presidential race, the RNC said it has filed 130 lawsuits in 26 states this election cycle, while Harris' campaign told The New York Times in August that its election legal team has increased 10-fold over what President Joe Biden’s was in 2020.

Some swing states have already experienced election irregularities during early and mail-in voting, as others are bracing for them to occur on Election Day.

Pennsylvania

Five Pennsylvania counties are investigating possible fraudulent voter applications and mail-in ballot applications in the days and weeks leading up to Election Day.

The Pennsylvania attorney general’s office announced Thursday, “Apparent attempts to submit fraudulent voter registration forms in Berks, Lancaster, Monroe, and York counties have been defeated. The Office of Attorney General is working with the respective county officials to investigate those responsible for this conduct.”

Additionally, Cambria County has found fraudulent voter registration applications.

There have also been numerous lawsuits in the commonwealth over election procedures and administration.

Former President Donald Trump's campaign and the RNC won a lawsuit against Bucks County, Pa., on Wednesday to extend early voting by three days, following allegations that voters were turned away before polls for early voting were scheduled to close.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday unanimously agreed to allow a Pennsylvania ruling to remain that lets voters whose mail-in ballots are rejected for technical reasons have their votes still count if they vote again by provisional ballot. The original lawsuit was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania, and the RNC appealed it to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Georgia

According to RNC Chairman Michael Whatley, the counties of Fulton, Cobb, DeKalb, and Gwinnett accepted ballots over the weekend, contrary to state law, and prevented Republican poll watchers from observing the counting of ballots. “Following our pressure campaign, our poll watchers have now been let into the building in all four Georgia counties,” Whatley posted on X on Saturday.

The RNC sued those four counties – in addition to the counties of Chatham, Clarke, and Clayton – in a lawsuit that is still ongoing.

"Our lawsuit over the offices remaining open is still pending, but we have eyes in the room as votes are being counted,” Whatley wrote in his post.

Arizona

Maricopa County, the most populous county in Arizona, may have issues on Election Day and take several days for results to be calculated. Maricopa County election officials announced that it will take 10-13 days to completely tabulate all ballots, meaning that some races may not be called on election night.

The county claims that “state election laws and narrow margins of victory” are the causes for the expected delay, as voters are given a five-day period to provide sufficient ID if they had not already done so.

However, Kari Lake, the GOP nominee for U.S. Senate in Arizona, argued that election results should not be delayed for 10-13 days. “In 2022, the Arizona Legislature empowered County Recorders to allow voters to self-tabulate their own early ballots on Election Day, but for some reason the Maricopa County Recorder refuses to provide voters this option,” Lake posted on X.

There may also be long lines in Maricopa County on Election Day.

Harmeet Dhillon, counsel for the RNC, and Abe Hamadeh, the GOP nominee for Arizona’s 8th Congressional District, warned the Maricopa County Recorder’s Office and the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors of the potential delays and voting issues that could occur on Election Day.

The Republicans noted that the length of the ballot will increase the time it takes for voters to fill it out and potential equipment failures could also increase voting time and cause long lines at polling locations.

The paper general election ballot for Maricopa County this year is two pages and double-sided, which is the first time since 2006 that the ballot has been longer than a page, presenting novel technical problems. Maricopa County Elections Director Scott Jarrett warned in September that ballot tabulation machines might jam because two sheets of paper will be inserted instead of one. He said that poll workers are receiving extra training to know how to address tabulator problems and quell any voters’ concerns.