VOTING hours have been extended at some polling sites in a key battleground state after they were plagued with issues that prevented voters from casting their ballots.
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.
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Polling sites across the country have 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.
Read more in The U.S. Sun
“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.
Meanwhile, technical issues with voting machines in Louisiana and Indiana impacted voters planning to cast 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.
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 potential violence at polling locations or
Law enforcement officials nationwide are on high alert for any acts of violence at polling locations or violent demonstrations.
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.
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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.
What are Trump and Harris’ platforms?
A look at what issues matter most to the candidates.
Harris’ talking points:
- The importance of democracy after the January 6 attack on the Capitol
- Advocate for abortion rights after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade with a 6-3 judgment in 2022
- Lowering costs for consumers, including rent control, capping prescription drug prices, and banning food and grocery price gouging
- Support for Ukraine and Israel while they are at war
- Highlight the strong US economy and low unemployment rates during Biden’s presidency
Trump’s talking points:
- Slam issues at the US-Mexico border, which was a critical talking point for his 2016 win
- Criticize the slew of criminal and civil lawsuits filed against him
- Applaud the Trump-appointed Supreme Court justices who overturned Roe after the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg
- Discuss a plan to end the war between Russia and Ukraine, although he hasn’t said which country he wants to win
- Advocate for parents’ rights to regulate and restrict discussion of gender, sexuality, and race in schools
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.
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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…
- Donald Trump and Kamala Harris made their final pitches to supporters and undecided voters at a flurry of rallies on the eve of Election Day.
- Harris held several events in Pennsylvania on Monday while Trump crisscrossed across battleground states, holding rallies in Michigan, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania.
- Vice President-nominee JD Vance, joined by his wife and two of their three children, voted Tuesday morning at a Catholic church in Cincinnati, Ohio.
- Donald Trump returned to Florida, where he is expected to hold an election night watch party at the Palm Beach County Convention Center.
- Kamala Harris will make one final push on Election Day as she’s expected to participate in seven radio interviews in each swing state.
- Harris will hold an election night watch party at her alma mater, Howard University in Washington DC, where she will be joined by her running mate, Tim Walz.
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.
Read More on The US Sun
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.
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