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DETROIT / ATLANTA (Reuters): Millions of Americans lined up patiently on Tuesday (Nov. 3) to cast their vote in libraries, schools and stadiums amid a deadly pandemic, in an orderly display of civic duty that belied the deep tensions that they made up one of the most polarizing presidential campaigns in American history.
The masks worn by many voters and the sight of bricked-up shops in some city centers were reminders of two major issues that defined the 2020 elections, with Covid-19 still ravaging parts of the country after a summer of protests against violence. sometimes marked by violence. police brutality and racism.
The FBI and the New York attorney general’s office opened investigations into a series of anonymous bots urging people in various states to stay home.
And a federal judge ordered the US Postal Service to sweep some facilities across the country for undelivered vote-by-mail ballots and immediately send them to elections offices to be counted.
Civil liberties groups and law enforcement agencies were on high alert for interference with voters at the polls, but little or no major disruption was reported late in the afternoon.
In a disturbing incident in the battlefield state of North Carolina, a man legally carrying an open firearm was arrested and charged with breaking and entering at a Charlotte polling place.
Police said the suspect, Justin Dunn, 36, had loitered after voting in the morning, “possibly intimidating other voters.” A police station official asked him to leave and returned two hours later when he was detained, authorities said.
In New York City, some voting lines snaked around the blocks, but in many places, from Los Angeles to Detroit to Atlanta, the lines were short or nonexistent. Poll workers assumed this was due to an unprecedented wave of early voting. More than 100 million votes were cast before Election Day, a new record.
In Atlanta, about a dozen voters lined up before dawn at the Piedmont Park Conservancy. First in line was Ginnie House, shivering with cold, waiting to cast a vote.
“I lost my absentee ballot and I’m not going to miss this vote,” said House, 22, an actor and creative writing student, who flew back to Atlanta from New York just for the election.
He said he was voting for Democratic candidate Joe Biden, a former vice president seeking to replace Republican President Donald Trump in the White House.
At a polling station in Houston, Andy Valadez blew a shofar, a ritual trumpet made from a ram’s horn used in Jewish and some Christian ceremonies. In this case, the horn was a way to pray for a Trump victory, Valadez said.
“We want to pray for a fair election,” said the 55-year-old marketing executive, his shofar draped in an American flag. “We believe in America and we want everyone to have a safe voting experience.”
Tensions from Times Square to Texas
The American Civil Liberties Union and other civil rights groups said they were watching closely for signs of voter intimidation, and the Civil Rights Division of the US Department of Justice said it was deploying personnel to 18 states.
Staff at the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under the Law, a Washington-based advocacy group, told reporters they were concerned that voting machines were not working in three Georgia counties, forcing voters to fill out paper ballots and raised concerns about paper backups. it would end.
Business owners in some cities nailed slabs of plywood over street-level windows for fear that civil unrest could erupt later, especially if the election result was delayed.
In New York City, the Empire State Building and Macy’s department store were among the bricked up. On Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, staff had stripped the Tiffany & Co. and Van Cleef & Arpels windows of their jewelry.
Although Tuesday passed relatively calmly, tensions had flared across the country in the run-up to election day.
Trump supporters driving pickup trucks down a Texas highway on Friday surrounded a tour bus carrying Biden’s campaign personnel. In North Carolina over the weekend, police pepper sprayed a group of mostly Democrats marching to polling stations. And members of an anti-government militia group were charged last month with conspiring to kidnap the Democratic governor of Michigan.
Trump supporters planned more caravans of vehicles Tuesday similar to those that jammed traffic in New York and elsewhere. Some electoral security experts were concerned that these ongoing demonstrations could intimidate voters or lead to violent clashes.
While the Election Day voting seemed to be going well in most places, there were some scattered technical problems.
The North Carolina State Board of Elections extended voting at four late-opening polling places Tuesday. As a result, early ballot and mail-in returns statewide would be delayed until all polls were closed. Raleigh News and Observer reported.
Similarly, Hidalgo County, Texas, said on Twitter that all 74 polling places would remain open for another hour after 10 sites experienced “laptop registration issues.”
Even once the votes are cast, some Americans worry about a lengthy vote count in key states, forcing the country to wait days or more before a clear winner emerges if the race is closed.
Trump, whose office has no powers over state-controlled vote counting, has said he believes states should simply stop counting legal ballots once Tuesday has passed. – Reuters
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