Glitch Causes Heavily Republican County's Voting Machines To Go Down for Hours
A county-wide glitch this morning in heavily Republican Spalding County in Georgia caused voting machines to go down for hours before the issue was resolved shortly before 10 a.m.
“The computers at all polling locations across Spalding County are down,” the Spalding County Sheriff’s Office wrote on Facebook.
“The problem is being worked on and hopefully will be resolved quickly. Until the issue is fixed, paper ballots are being used at all locations.”
The error was traced back to workers in Spalding County who incorrectly loaded information onto the poll pads Tuesday morning, WSB-TV reported.
Provisional ballots were rushed to each precinct so voting could continue, but some voters chose to come back later in the day.
“Spalding County Elections Supervisor Marcia Ridley urged everyone to be patient and assured voters that they will be able to cast their ballots,” WSB-TV reported.
WGCL-TV reporter Rob Hughes said that earlier in the day, machines were down at some locations while machines were working at others.
Voters are lined up outside at First Presbyterian Church in Griffin. Machines working here, but I visited one other nearby polling location where all machines are still down and the only option is a provisional ballot. The line here is a tiny fraction of what it was earlier. pic.twitter.com/Odg08P6p8L
— Rob Hughes (@robhughes_) November 3, 2020
There are currently no plans for the Georgia polling locations to stay open past 7 p.m. unless there is a court order.
Anyone who is in line by 7 p.m. will be allowed to cast their ballot.
Spalding County is a largely Republican-leaning county with 15,636 votes cast for President Donald Trump in 2016, according to Politico.
In 2016, 60.3 percent of Spalding County voters chose Trump and 36 percent of voters chose Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.
Christian County in Missouri also experienced a glitch at polling places Tuesday morning, KYTV-TV reported.
Christian County Clerk Kay Brown said the glitch impacted the electronic polling pads and slowed the voting process but didn’t stop it.
Election officials had to go to each precinct to fix the issue.
Trump also won Christian County in 2016 with 74.7 percent of voters choosing him over the 20.5 percent who chose Clinton, according to Politico.
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