ATLANTA -- The Secretary of State's Office said a record-breaking number of people voted early for this year's midterm election. A high turnout is also expected on Election Day.
11Alive will be tracking any issues and complaints that you have at the polls. Contact 11Alive's Nick Sturdivant for any problems you encounter. You can also email the 11Alive newsroom or post your complaints to the 11Alive Facebook page or send us a tweet.
The Department of Justice said the Civil Rights Division will also be monitoring elections in 19 states, including here in Georgia. To contact someone about possible violations of the federal voting rights call 1-800-253-3931 or 202-307-2767. They can also be sent through email or by filling out a complaint form on the DOJ's website.
Allegations of election fraud are handled by the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices across the country and the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section. Complaints can be sent to the local U.S. Attorneys’ Office as well. Those who witness questionable election-related activity, can call the Georgia Secretary of State's Voter Fraud Hotline at 877-725-9797. They should expect to be contacted by an elections investigator for additional information.
8:02 p.m. | A group of civil rights lawyers has announced that it has won a suit to extend voting hours at three locations in Fulton County. Voting at Pittman Park Recreation Center has been extended to 9 p.m. Voting at the Archer location at Morehouse College and Booker T. Washington High School polling places has been extended to 10 p.m. Attorneys suggested that the county mistakenly ordered too few voting machines. "Significant delays were also reported at Morehouse College.
7:00 p.m. | Polls around most of Georgia have closed though some have received extended time due to problems earlier in the day. For live updates as votes are tallied, visit: 11Alive.com/Elections
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6:54 p.m. | Because of issues earlier in the night, elections officials have confirmed that voting times at one location have been extended even further. Annistown Elementary School, which experienced massive lines earlier in the night, has extended voting hours to 9:25 p.m. Voting at the Anderson-Livsey Precinct has been expanded to 7:30 and the Harbins Precinct was extended to 7:14 p.m.
5:50 p.m. | Poll workers tell 11Alive lines at Annistown Elementary School - where voters had experienced wait times of up to 4.5 hours - are now down to about 35 minutes.
4:55 p.m. | 11Alive received a message from a viewer that voters' cars were being towed at the Defoors Center, causing people to have to leave lines and skip casting their ballots.
After getting the message, 11Alive reached out to Atlanta Police, who said that the owner of the private parking lot had booted some cars. Police dispatched an officer and asked for them to stop, since some of the vehicles were parked by voters.
"The complied," police said.
3:36 p.m. | 11Alive has learned that election issues have directly impacted gubernatorial candidate - and current secretary of state - Brian Kemp himself. Kemp hit a snag of his own when he went to vote near Athens at the Winterville depot location. Kemp entered - then exited the booth reporting a card error. Kemp was able to vote with a replacement card.
3:10 p.m. | This is the line inside Annistown Elementary School where there were issues voting earlier in the morning. Coming back, a voter said it took her 15 minutes to get through the line later.
1:50 p.m. | The Georgia Secretary of State's office has confirmed that by court order, the Annistown Elementary School precinct in Gwinnett County will remain open until 7:25 p.m. due to the problems they experienced earlier in the day.
Thus far, it appears to be the only location at which the time for voting has been extended. They obtained this extension through a court order. Gwinnett County officials sought this order.
1:15 p.m. | Previously reported problems at the Suwanee Library, Annistown Elementary School and Anderson Livsey Elementary School precincts in Gwinnett County were fixed by noon, according to a news conference with officials and candidates.
"There's 156 precincts in Gwinnett County, and the only serious issue was here at Annistown," said Democratic congressional candidate Carolyn Boudreaux. She said there were some glitches in other precincts, but nothing too serious.
"Just a mere inconvenience is not enough to keep everyone from these polls," said US Rep. Hank Johnson (D-4th Ga.).
"Folks have been committed to their right to vote," said state Sen. Jason Carter. "That commitment demonstrated by the great number of people - in the hundreds who waited four hours."
12:42 p.m. | A voter at the Avondale High School precinct in DeKalb County reported that the ID scanners were not working and that some persons were showing up in the system as either not being registered or as having already voted when they know they have not previously voted.
This particular voter indicated that it took some time and several phone calls to find out that her "false vote" had been purged from the system, allowing her to vote. Her secondary frustration is that if she had not shown up to the polls, a false vote under her name would have already been in the system.
A DeKalb County spokesperson denied this claim adding that they had no reports of scanners that weren't operating correctly. The spokesperson said that some older licenses don't work with modern scanners and those voters are manually entered and allowed to cast a ballot.
12:28 p.m. | A voter at the Arnold Elementary School precinct in Stockbridge telephoned 11Alive News and said her voting machine would not register her preference this morning. She said that other voters on Facebook were sharing similar stories with her.
12:06 p.m. | The Democratic Party of Georgia is hosting a press conference at Annistown Elementary School in Snellville to discuss voting problems at precincts so far on Election Day. Congressman Hank Johnson, Congressional candidate Carolyn Boudreaux, State Sen. Jason Carter and Rep. Dar'Shun Kendrick are attending.
11:30 a.m. | According to NBC News, polling at the Anderson Livsey Elementary School precinct in Snellville was delayed for several hours due to a lack of power cords for the voting machines. Gwinnett County Director of Communications Joe Sorenson told NBC News "the machine was not supplied power and was running on battery and the battery ran out."
Voter Nick Alexander told NBC News, "I arrived at 7:15 am, of course, the line started to build. The polling director informed us that the batteries had died in the polling machines and someone was going to get us power cords."
Alexander said all the batteries in all of the voting booths died and it took about an hour and 45 minutes for them to retrieve the power cords and then another hour and 45 minutes passed before he was able to vote.
11 a.m. | Problems reported with balloting machines at Hiram High School in Paulding County. A voter indicated that her Democratic vote was being tallied incorrectly.
Paulding County officials told 11Alive News they are sending a technician to Hiram High School to check out all the machines and ensure they are working properly.
10:30 a.m. | Problems reported with balloting machines at the Faith Community Church precinct in Grayson where only three of six machines were reported to be working. They were reported to have been fixed a short time later.
10:13 a.m. | A polling location issue has popped up in Buford where voters are being turned away from a car repair shop that had been reported as a poll.
10 a.m. | Voters at the Sagamore Hills precinct in DeKalb County are reporting a lack of voting machines and problems.
9:30 a.m. | Voters at West Cobb Church on Villa Rica Road in Marietta say there are normally 30 voting machines, but indicate there are only eight machines today. Voters are walking away from the polls. A similar report comes from the Pittman Park precinct in Fulton County. Three machines are present today where seven machines were available during the primary election.
8:39 a.m. | Reports of long lines at Anderson Elementary School in Snellville, Georgia.
8:30 a.m. | Voters at Annistown Elementary School in Snellville are reporting problems with voting equipment at that location. According to several callers to 11Alive News, voters are being offered paper provisional ballots instead.
8:27 a.m. | Gwinnett County election officials are reporting that some of their equipment at the Suwanee Library location is experiencing problems. While they are being repaired, voting is continuing with provisional ballots.
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