Tech issues & threats spark chaos on Election Day forcing voting hours extension

THE first states have been called in the presidential election as voting hours have been extended at some battleground state polling sites.

Polls will stay open in Pennsylvania’s Cambria County until 10 pm after a software malfunction blocked voters from submitting their ballots for US president.

11

11

At the same time, North Carolina’s Board of Elections extended the hours at two poll locations after both opened late due to technical issues, ABC News reported.

The Gardners School precinct in Wilson County and Pilot Mountain Precinct in Burke County will be open for an additional 30 minutes.

First calls made by the AP announced Donald Trump won the presidential election in Indiana and Kentucky while Kamala Harris won Vermont.

Polling sites across the country opened their doors hours after former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris made their final pitch to undecideds on Monday evening.

Voters flocked to locations as soon as they opened. 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.

But voters are dealing with technical issues, long lines, severe weather, and potential Election Day blackouts.

In Georgia, two polling locations were briefly disrupted by “non-credible” bomb threats, which Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said stemmed from Russia.

“They’re up to mischief it seems,” Raffensperger said about the Russians.

“They don’t want us to have a smooth, fair and accurate election.”

The FBI said it was aware of bomb threats made at several polling places in multiple states.

The threats, which originated from a Russian email address, were deemed not credible by federal officials.

A Cobb County judge extended the voting hours by 20 minutes at two precincts that opened late on Election Day morning, according to Bloomberg News.

The polls at Mount Paran Church of God and Kell High School will close at 7:20 pm.

In battleground Wisconsin, a recount of every absentee ballot was issued in Milwaukee after an observer noticed a panel on tabulators wasn’t properly closed, according to the non-profit newsroom VotebeatUS.

Meanwhile, technical issues with voting machines in Louisiana and Indiana also impacted voters who planned to submit 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.

The board was working with Cambria County officials to resolve the issue and a court ruled polling stations will stay open two hours late, until 10 pm.

Polls will also be open late in Laflin Borough on the other side of the state until 9:30 pm after the location opened an hour and a half late.

All completed ballots will be accepted and counted by the board of elections.

ARRESTS MADE

In Michigan, the election drama heated up after two people were arrested by the FBI after allegedly firing off violent threats against Trump, the US Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District of Michigan said in a release.

One of the accused, Isaac Sissel, was arrested from a hotel on Monday, one month after detectives discovered his Reddit account ShootUpTrumpRally, according to the affidavit unsealed Tuesday.

He had also been linked to other disturbing accounts, including WillShootTrumpSoon, PlanningToShootTrump, and PlanningToKillTrump, federal agents said in the court docs.

A phone number associated with Sissel sent a message threatening an attack on “conservative Christian filth” with an AR-15 if Trump won, the affidavit claims.

“There’s not a thing the FBI can do until I complete the attack,” the message allegedly read.

After his arrest, the deranged man told detectives he believed that right-wing groups were using violence to advance their causes, the FBI said.

He planned to join left-wing group Antifa to protest if Trump won the election, according to the court docs.

Law enforcement officials nationwide are on high alert for any acts of violence at polling locations or potential unrest on Election Day.

The US Capitol Police arrested a man who was reeking of fuel as he was being screened at the Capitol Visitor Center.

Capitol police said the man had a torch and a flare gun on his person.

TRUMP & MELANIA VOTE

After speaking at an early morning rally in Michigan, Trump jetted over to his home in Palm Beach, Florida, to cast his vote and express his confidence in the campaign.

Dressed in a suit and a Make America Great Again Hat, Trump joined his wife, Melania, to chat with reporters about the hotly anticipated election results.

“I feel very confident. I hear we’re doing very well everywhere,” he said.

The Republican presidential nominee said he was “very honored” to learn that lines at polling sites nationwide are very long.

He called his 2024 campaign the “best” of the three he ran, saying “It won’t even be close. But it’s going to take a long time to certify.”

Trump’s son Barron didn’t join for the trip, and it’s unclear when he cast his vote.

11

11

SEVERE WEATHER

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.

In Las Vegas, two first-time voters lined up two hours before the polling site at Allegiant Stadium opened.

Christina Neri and Elizabeth Garcia were the first voters in line outside the Las Vegas Raiders‘ stadium, they told CNN.

“We do have to go to work after this, but we wanted to make history and be at Allegiant and vote her since it’s the first time it opens to voters,” Neri told the outlet.

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.

11

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.

In Michigan, voting was disrupted after poll workers and voters were evacuated at a precinct in Northville following reports of a gas leak, NBC affiliate WDIV-TV reported.

Voters were asked to go to Hillside Middle School to fill out their ballots.

What to know on Election Day…

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.

“I’ve just been so focused on the task in front of me, the reflection has only been about making sure that I’m responding to the needs of folks around the policies.”

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.

11

11

11

11

11