Election Day voting is generally running smoothly, with some scattered issues and delays

WASHINGTON (AP) — Election Day voting went largely smoothly across the country Tuesday, with only scattered reports of delays due to extreme weather, ballot printing errors and technical problems.

Most of the problems that occurred by midday were “largely expected routine and planned events,” Cait Conley, senior adviser to the director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, said in a news conference. She said the agency is not currently tracking any nationally significant incidents impacting election security.

In the swing state of Pennsylvania, early reports that Republican poll workers were not being allowed into some polling places were quickly resolved. A Pennsylvania judge ordered polls to remain open for an extra two hours in Cambria County, where 68% voted for former President Donald Trump in 2020. The province requested an extension after a software glitch affected the vote-scanning machines, although provincial officials did not confirm anyone. was rejected from the election and said that all votes would be counted.

A technical glitch in Champaign County, Illinois, and challenges with e-pollbooks in Louisville, Kentucky, also caused voting to be postponed, but these issues were quickly resolved and voting was back on. In Maricopa County, Arizona, one voting location was delayed because an employee forgot to bring a key.

In Missouri, flooding made reaching one polling place in the St. Louis area difficult and knocked out power to another, forcing poll workers to turn to a generator to continue election operations. Still, voters in several rain-hit states sat enthusiastically under umbrellas as they queued to cast their votes.

“We will be like postal workers: rain, snow or sleet,” said voter Mary Roszkowski after casting her ballot in windy Racine, Wisconsin, wiping raindrops from her face.

In Maine, at least three high schools that served as polling places were subjected to false reports of gunmen, but voting continued uninterrupted when police confirmed the calls were a hoax. In Georgia, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said some bomb threats had been reported at polling stations, but all were considered not credible and authorities were investigating.

The FBI said Tuesday afternoon that it was aware of multiple non-credible bomb threats against polling places in several states and said many of them appeared to come from Russian email domains.

What made voting on Election Day relatively smooth was the fact that tens of millions of Americans had already cast their ballots. That included record numbers of voters in Georgia, North Carolina and other battleground states who could determine the winner.

On Tuesday, the Associated Press’ tracking of nationwide advance voting showed that more than 82 million ballots had already been cast — just over half of the total votes cast in the presidential election four years earlier. That’s partly thanks to Republican voters, who cast ballots faster than in recent past elections, following a campaign by Trump and the Republican National Committee to counter Democrats’ long-standing advantage in early voting.

Early in-person and mail-in voting went off without any major problems, aside from some typical issues expected in any election. That includes the parts of western North Carolina that were hit by Hurricane Helene last month. State and local election officials, taking advantage of changes made by the Republican-controlled Legislature, made a huge effort to ensure residents could cast their ballots while dealing with power outages, lack of water and washed away roads. That appeared to continue Tuesday, with the North Carolina Board of Elections reporting no voting problems.

Besides the hurricanes in North Carolina and Florida, the most concerning disruptions of the election season so far were arsons that damaged ballots at two drop boxes near the Oregon-Washington border. Authorities there were looking for the person responsible.

The absence of significant, widespread problems has not stopped Trump, the Republican nominee, or the RNC now under his rule, from making numerous claims of fraud or election interference during the early voting period, a possible prelude to post-election challenges elections. Day.

Trump and Republicans have also warned about the possibility of Democrats recruiting crowds of noncitizens to vote, a claim they made without evidence and that runs counter to data, including from Republican secretaries of state. Research has consistently shown that non-citizens rarely register to vote. Any noncitizen who does so faces the possibility of misdemeanor charges and deportation, which poses a significant barrier.

One case of non-citizen voting was discovered during early voting last month and resulted in misdemeanor charges after a student from China cast an illegal early vote.

This is the first presidential election since Trump lost to Joe Biden four years ago and began several attempts to overturn the outcome and stay in power. That culminated with the January 6, 2021, violent attack on the US Capitol to halt the certification of the results after Trump told his supporters to “fight like hell.”

Even now, a solid majority of Republicans believe Trump’s lie that Biden was not legitimately elected, despite reviews, audits and recounts in battleground states all confirming Biden’s victory. A survey last month from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that Republicans remain far more skeptical than Democrats that their ballots will be accurately counted this year.

In an effort to restore voter confidence in a system focused on false claims of widespread fraud, Republican lawmakers in more than a dozen states have passed new voting restrictions since 2020. These rules include shortening the period for requesting or returning a ballot, reducing the availability of ballot drop boxes and adding ID requirements.

In the final weekend before Election Day, Trump continued to falsely claim the election was rigged against him and said a presidential winner would have to be declared on election night before all the ballots are counted.

Vice President Kamala Harris urged voters not to fall for Trump’s tactic of casting doubt on the election. The Democratic candidate told supporters at a weekend rally in Michigan that the tactic was intended to suggest to people “that if they vote, their vote doesn’t matter.” Instead, she urged people who had already voted to encourage their friends to do the same.

During four years of election lies and voting-related conspiracy theories, local election officials have faced intimidation and even death threats. This has led to high turnover and increased security at election offices and polling places, including panic buttons and bulletproof glass.

While there have been no major reports of malicious cyber activity targeting election offices, foreign actors have been active in using fake social media profiles and websites to drum up partisan vitriol and disinformation. In recent weeks, U.S. intelligence officials have credited Russia with several fake videos alleging election fraud in presidential swing states.

On the eve of Election Day, they released a joint statement with federal law enforcement agencies warning that Russia in particular was increasing its influence operations, including in ways that could incite violence, and would likely continue these efforts long after the votes were cast. .

Jen Easterly, the nation’s top election security official, urged Americans to rely on state and local election officials for election information.

“This is especially important as we find ourselves in an election cycle with an unprecedented amount of disinformation, including disinformation that is being aggressively spread and amplified by our foreign adversaries on a larger scale than ever before,” she said. “We cannot allow our foreign adversaries to have a voice in our democracy.”

– By CHRISTINA A. CASSIDY and ALI SWENSON Associated Press. The Associated Press receives support from several private foundations to improve its explanatory reporting on elections and democracy. See more about AP’s democracy initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.