“‘It’s broken’: Fears grow about strength of US voting system”

AP:

 The chaos that plagued Georgia’s primary this week is raising concerns about a potential broader failure of the nation’s patchwork election system that could undermine the November presidential contest, political leaders and elections experts say.

With less than five months to go, fears are mounting that several battleground states are not prepared to administer problem-free elections during the pandemic.

The increasingly urgent concerns are both complex and simple: long lines disproportionately affecting voters of color in places like Atlanta with a history of voter suppression; a severe shortage of poll workers scared away by coronavirus concerns; and an emerging consensus that it could take several days after polls close on Election Day to determine a winner as battleground states struggle with an explosion of mail voting….

The final Las Vegas voter wasn’t able to cast a ballot until 3 a.m. Wednesday, eight hours after polls were supposed to close. Some Atlanta voters brought lawn chairs to wait in lines that exceeded five hours.

Wait times of two hours or more were reported in recent weeks across Philadelphia, Milwaukee and Washington, D.C.

Beyond lines, the mail voting boom has caused unprecedented reporting delays.

Pennsylvania officials were still counting mail ballots from the state’s June 2 election on June 11. Because of a court order, Wisconsin didn’t begin to release results of its April 7 primary until six days after polls closed.

Former Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, a Republican, said he’s confident in the state’s voting system and blames any issues on the “incompetence” of municipal election officials. The criticism was in line with that of Georgia’s chief elections officer, a Republican who blamed the election leaders of two Democratic-controlled counties for most of the problems in Tuesday’s primary.

That highlights a complicated reality across America. Each state has its own set of complicated ballot-access laws, adopted by the party in power at the statehouse and implemented by local governments with little to no federal oversight.

Share this: