[ad_1]
Missouri voters had to wait for election results a few hours after polls closed on Tuesday, as Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft announced that his office would not release any results until all voters would not have voted.
"We will not post any results until the last Missourian vote," Ashcroft said on Twitter.
A little before 9 pm, he tweeted: "We estimate that the final vote will be made after 21:30. Please be patient. Every vote counts. Polling stations closed at 7 pm
At 9:33 am, Ashcroft tweeted that all ballots had been tabled.
The delay added to other problems in Kansas City on Tuesday, including broken voting machines, confusion over the voter identity law and at least one polling station using bad ballots.
With strong voter turnout, some voters had to wait until one o'clock.
Just before noon, Ashcroft recognized the problems encountered in a publication on Twitter.
"Several polling stations report problems calculating the number of ballots by machines," says the tweet. "Local election officials are aware and work to fix. Your vote will be counted! Follow the instructions of the electoral agents and know that your vote is secure!
Some voters, however, were suspicious.
In Clay County, problems began at 6 am when polls were opened in a polling station in Excelsior Springs.
Clay County election officials confirmed that about a dozen of their boxes were not working until three in the morning. Officials blamed some of the problems on election officials who did not press the right buttons on two-year-old machines.
A long-time electrician, Mark Liggat, said that when Centerview's only voting machine at the Raymore polling station had stopped working, he could not believe what alternative election officials had suggested.
"They started taking the ballots out of the machine and putting them in a cardboard box," says Liggat. "Nothing more than a cardboard box with a slot on top."
Liggat had been waiting for about an hour when he realized that the line of "hundreds and hundreds of people" was starting to slow down. With other voters, he did not put his ballot in the ballot box.
At the polling station of the Don Bosco Seniors Center, several machines did not accept the ballots because they had the wrong one constituency numbersaid Kevin Worley of Kansas City.
Shawn Kieffer, director of the Kansas City Electoral Council, said a technician had been sent to the scene and that if the ballots were marked for the wrong constituency, the votes would be transferred to the correct ballot.
Elector identity also caused some confusion. Some Missouri voters would have been informed that they did not have the proper pieces of identity required to vote, even though they possessed the right documents.
Sheryl Porter says that she was informed, around 9 am, at the St. Sabinah polling station in Cass County, that she needed an identity photo for vote, although she has already presented a voter card.
"I told her that the information she shared was not correct," Porter said.
In Missouri, a voter card fulfills the criteria of identity. Electors may also present a college ID, utility bill, bank statement, pay check or other government document (without photo) confirming a name and address.
Corey Dillon, Democratic Leader of the Jackson County Electoral Council, said that she had received reports of identification problems, but that a number of cases were a misunderstanding between the poll notification and the cards. d & # 39; voter.
"Voter notification cards are not an acceptable piece of identification. They have never been.
Regarding registration problems, Patrick Grantello, who left the city center for Platte County at the beginning of the year, expressed his frustration with ProPublica's Electionland project, which monitors the problems of registration. vote in the country.
He stated that he received a voter ID card from the KC Election Board with his new address. But the KC board serves the city south of the Missouri River, while the Platte County Election Council serves part of the city north of the river.
When Grantello attempted to vote at the Line Creek Community Center, he was informed that his information had not been forwarded to the Platte County Council. He did not have the choice to vote on a provisional basis and left, but returned later.
He added that the election worker had repeatedly told him that his vote would not be taken into account, until Grantello insisted that he obtain a provisional ballot.
"I have been registered for 16 years and have never had a problem until today," he said.
The office of the Missouri Secretary of State said he had not received many complaints from voters registering via the Secretary of State's website or the Department of Motor Vehicles.
Despite the problems, voters resisted well.
Dan Magrone of Kansas City had to wait nearly an hour before receiving his ballot at Central Presbyterian Church in downtown.
"The queue looked like Disneyland there at 6 am," said Magrone. "I just wanted to make sure my voice was heard because we needed changes."
Fewer problems were reported in Johnson County, which experienced embarrassing delays during the first-ever August 7th primary because of a software issue with the county's new voting reporting system.
Election Systems & Software, the provider, solved the problem this fall. On Tuesday night, Johnson County Election Commissioner Ronnie Metsker said the voting report system was working as planned.
"That's where we had the problem before. It did not happen (tonight). Was good. Was good."
This story includes information that began with an advice from ProPublica's Electionland Project, which monitors voting issues in the country.
[ad_2]
Source link
