ATLANTA (AP) – After a year of dealing with false claims and death threats, election officials on Tuesday delivered a relatively smooth Election Day.
There were just scattered reports of voting or equipment problems, typical for Election Day: a technical problem delaying a count of early ballots, a power outage, a polling place opening late. It was too soon to gauge the effects of new voting restrictions in place in a few states.
In Virginia, as a sign of how relatively low-key voting was in the state, one of the biggest issues was reminding poll workers that voters were not required to wear a mask when casting their ballot.
“Today was overwhelmingly a good day for Virginia,” said Virginia Department of Elections Commissioner Chris Piper. “Overall, the election today was about as smooth as we could have asked for.”
Piper said heavy turnout in the state prompted some polling locations to run out of ballots, but election officials were able to quickly pivot – either by printing more or directing voters to ballot-marking machines typically reserved for voters who need assistance. He said voting never stopped. In Fairfax County, the state’s most populous, corrupted thumb drives used in four voting machines delayed the counting of ballots cast early, some of which were still being tallied hours after polls closed.