Election Day is in full swing across Alabama and the United States. Voters are at the polls to cast their ballots for either Donald Trump or Kamala Harris in one of the nation’s most historic presidential races. They'll also be determining which party will control the House and Senate.
Here’s the latest of what's happening at the polls:
After missing amendments, corrected ballots are being sent to St. Clair County, Alabama
Ballots sent to some polling locations in St. Clair County, Alabama, for Tuesday’s election were missing a state amendment and a local amendment, local probate judge Andrew Weathington said at a news conference Tuesday.
Judge Weathington said the first round of corrected ballots had been ordered from Birmingham and estimated they would arrive just before 2 p.m. CT.
“I’m as frustrated as anybody, and I understand that we have to take off work and all that stuff to go vote. And I apologize. I don’t know what else to say other than we’re very, very sorry,” Weathington said.
The local circuit court judge ordered polling locations across the country to stay open for two additional hours this evening, until 9 p.m. to accommodate the error. Weathington said ballots that had already been cast would still be counted. There are just over 95,000 residents in St. Clair County, according to the 2023 U.S. Census.
Officials warned residents to continue to expect long lines at polling locations.
Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen said in an email that his office is aware of the delays and stressed that his office is not involved in inspecting and printing the ballots.
Results for 2 North Carolina counties delayed briefly as precincts close later
Two counties in battleground North Carolina will delay turning in their results by 30 minutes after the State Board of Elections agreed to extend the close of voting at two precincts due to technical problems there on Tuesday morning.
The board voted to push the closing time at one precinct in Burke County and another precinct in Wilson County to 8 p.m.
According to election officials, likely voters at the Wilson County precinct were unable to cast ballots for almost an hour and a half because a printer needed to generate voter authorization forms wasn’t working. And in Burke County, people couldn’t vote for potentially 30 or 40 minutes when a precinct laptop computer with the official pollbook had a problem.
The state board won’t publish unofficial results from Burke and Wilson counties until voting ends at the precincts. Results in the state’s other 98 counties can be reported at the normal closing time.
Jacksonville voters briefly diverted after suspicious package found in polling place
Voters arriving at a polling place in Jacksonville, Florida, were diverted to another voting location for a short time Tuesday after a suspicious package was found outside.
Supervisor of Elections Jerry Holland said in an email that about 20 voters were sent to other locations for about 40 minutes before operations at the polling place resumed. The package ended up being the personal belongings of a homeless person, he said.
Denver-area authorities look into ballot issues at adult day care facility
Authorities in the Denver area are investigating after election officials discovered “discrepancies” with signatures on several mail ballots sent from an adult day care facility in the city.
That’s according to Denver clerk and recorder Paul Lopez in a statement.
Election workers in Colorado check the signatures on mail ballots against voter signatures on file to make sure they’re submitted by the voter the ballot was sent to. Lopez said his office notified law enforcement and the Denver district attorney’s office was investigating. He also said law enforcement in nearby counties were also investigating but did not explain why.
Denver’s KMGH-TV, which first reported the investigation, said ballots from the facility were sent to six counties.
Colorado overwhelmingly votes by mail.
Voting machines malfunction in central Iowa county
In Central Iowa’s Story County, home to about 100,000 people and the city of Ames, voting machines at some precincts malfunctioned, portending possible delays to reporting results.
“We are aware of technical issues regarding tabulators in some precincts in Story County,” said Ashley Hunt Esquivel, a spokesperson for Iowa Secretary of State’s Office. “The auditor is working with the vendor and our office to resolve it. It is not stopping anyone from casting a single ballot. It may impact how quickly we can report results.”
Story County Auditor Lucy Martin told the Des Moines Register that machines did not read “certain ballot styles” at about 12 of the county’s 45 polling locations. Election workers would have to count ballots at those locations by hand, according to local Democratic and Republican Party officials. The machines were tested, and the cause of the technical difficulties was unknown, Martin added.
More information and real-time Election 2024 coverage can be found at: https://apnews.com/hub/election-2024.
