Tens of millions of people voted in the US midterm elections without widespread disruption, despite concerns that interference by the Trump administration could affect polling.
Election officials reported familiar problems in some areas, including delayed openings, long queues, inadequate signs and faulty voting equipment. Flooding in parts of Florida, Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah also led authorities to move some polling stations and issue emergency ballots.
Polling stations remained open later in parts of the western United States, while counting continued across the country.
Ballot scanner problem in New York
The most prominent technical problem was reported in Westchester County, New York, which includes part of the closely watched 17th Congressional District.
A ballot scanner fault took much of the day to resolve. Voters were required to hand their ballots to election workers so they could be scanned later, prompting some right-wing commentators online to allege that the problem was evidence of fraud.
Both candidates urged voters not to be deterred. Mike Lawler, the Republican incumbent, wrote: “Every ballot will be counted.”
The Justice Department had said it planned to deploy about 1,000 monitors at polling places. Shortly after voting began on the east coast, it said monitors would be sent to observe voting in every state.
Harmeet Dhillon, head of the department’s Civil Rights Division, said election integrity was “one of the top priorities for this Administration and this Division”.
Election observers have routinely been used to document possible racial discrimination at polling stations since the Voting Rights Act was passed in 1965. However, repeated unsubstantiated claims of widespread voter fraud by Donald Trump and other federal officials had raised fears among local administrators and election experts that the monitors could interfere with voting.
No such activity had been reported by Tuesday evening. New Mexico’s secretary of state’s office, however, said it had received reports of Justice Department monitors asking unusual questions and questioning voters in Bernalillo County, which includes Albuquerque.
“The New Mexico Department of Justice reached out to the DOJ Team Lead on our office’s behalf to address this reported behavior, and we received assurances it would be addressed,” said Lindsey Bachman, a spokesperson for the secretary of state’s office.
Early voting turnout rises
Concerns over Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity and a heavy law-enforcement presence near polling places had also not materialised by 9pm eastern time.
More than 61 million ballots had already been cast before Election Day. Early in-person and postal voting was 34% higher nationally than at the 2022 midterm elections, according to data compiled by the University of Florida’s Election Lab, with the increase driven largely by in-person voting.
Attention will now turn to the counting and certification of results, particularly in close contests. Voting rights groups have also warned of possible disputes over ballots, including concerns about their seizure following the FBI’s seizure earlier this year of 2020 election materials from Fulton County, Georgia.
“Election Day is the last day that you can cast your ballot. But election season continues after today, and we’re going to continue to remain vigilant,” said Shaylyn Cochran, deputy executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.
