Election Hotline Receives 30,000 Calls About Voting Problems

The nonpartisan Election Protection hotline reported it received over 30,000 calls from voters with problems at their designated polling sites across the country on Tuesday.

The alarmingly high volume of calls was enormous for a midterm election, matching totals seen in past Presidential elections, the Associated Press reported. Most of the calls from exasperated voters were about malfunctioning voting machines.

“We’ve been trying to tell them to wait, but people have children,” one Georgia voter, Ontaria Woods, told the AP. “People are getting hungry. People are tired.”

In some states like Georgia, — where the race for Governor has yet to be determined as of early Wednesday afternoon — with hotly contested and highly anticipated elections, hours-long lines, malfunctioning voting equipment and unexpectedly closed polling places were the big complaints amongst voters.

“It’s further evidence, if any was needed, that it’s long past time to modernize our voting infrastructure,” said voting technology expert with the Brennan Center, Lawrence Norden. “Voters have a right to be frustrated by long lines. And they have a right to expect voting machines that work and have a paper backup.”