Voting Glitches Reported All Over US on Election Day

World | November 7, 2012, Wednesday // 00:19
Bulgaria: Voting Glitches Reported All Over US on Election Day People line up to vote in the 2012 US presidential election in Newark, New Jersey USA, 06 November 2012. EPA/BGNES

Computer and "human" problems alike have affected the Election Day voting for US President leading to complaints across the country.

One Pennsylvania voter highlighted a problem with voting machines on YouTube, complete with video, in which a touchscreen changed his choice from President Barack Obama to Republican Mitt Romney.

In Ohio, some Republicans claimed machines were changing Romney votes to Obama, while Democrats accused Republican state officials of installing untested "experimental" software at the last minute, US media report.

To make matters worse in the crucial swing state, some voting machines were malfunctioning in parts of the Cleveland area, said the Plain Dealer, which quoted election officials as saying ballots would be counted even if scanning machines were down.

In New Jersey, a late decision to allow voters displaced by superstorm Sandy to cast ballots by email caused confusion and frustration.

Another source of confusion in the US presidential elections was a last-minute modification, just hours before polls opened, stipulating that voters needed to mail in paper ballots as a verification of the email vote.

The news website Buzzfeed reported that in two major New Jersey counties, email address advertised on the website of the county clerk were down, and that one county clerk posted his hotmail address on Facebook for voters.

In Florida, The Tampa Bay Times reported that hundreds of voters received automated "robo-calls" telling them the election was Wednesday.

An official told the paper a glitch in the phone system allowed the calls to go through early Tuesday, telling voters the election was "tomorrow." A similar glitch was reported in the US capital city Washington, DC.

The Arizona Republic reported that robo-calls directed voters to the wrong polling stations, and that Democrats claimed it was an intentional effort by Republicans to misdirect people amid a tight Senate race.

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Tags: Pennsylvania, voting machine, Democrats, Republicans, Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Mitt Romney, Presidential elections, US President, USA, US

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