In Gwinnett County, Georgia, four out of 156 precincts experienced extended technical delays, while some voting machines in South Carolina were without power or the necessary devices to activate them. Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, which includes Pittsburgh, saw some confusion as at least four polling places were relocated in the last two days. In Chandler, Arizona, voters were surprised to find a locked polling place due to unpaid rent, but the location was later reopened. In Houston, a worker was removed from a polling site and charged with assault after a racially charged dispute with a voter. Issues with voting are a common occurrence on election day, and it could take days or weeks to fully understand them. However, the number of calls to voting hotlines run by advocacy groups has exceeded those from the 2014 midterm election. The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, which oversees 20 election call centres, reported receiving 24,000 calls by 5 pm on Tuesday, compared to 14,000 at the same time in 2014. Four states - Arizona, Florida, Georgia, and Texas - were identified as particularly problematic. These issues may further unsettle voters already on edge from the controversial 2016 election, which has been scrutinized for Russian interference and President Trump's claims of voter fraud without evidence. There has been increased tension surrounding the issue of voter registration, early voting, and access to polling sites in America. Election experts believe that the rights of minority voters have been on the decline since the Supreme Court's ruling on the Voting Rights Act in 1965. Several states have faced issues with extended hours at polling locations, leading to legal intervention in some cases. For example, in Texas, a judge ordered nine polling locations to stay open an extra hour due to complaints from civil rights organizations. Similar actions were being sought in Maricopa County, Arizona. In Georgia, a local judge allowed multiple sites in Gwinnett County to remain open, including Annistown Elementary School, where voting hours were extended by more than two hours. Several precincts in Fulton County, which includes a large part of Atlanta, were also kept open for hours. One of these precincts was Forbes Arena, where a rally featuring Democratic candidate for governor Stacey Abrams and former President Barack Obama took place last Friday. The state's election system was a major point of contention during the campaign between Abrams, who aimed to become the first African-American woman governor in any state, and Brian Kemp, her Republican opponent and the current secretary of state in charge of elections. Abrams and her supporters accused Kemp of attempting to suppress the vote through strict interpretations of state laws and procedures. Kemp claimed that his goal was to prevent cheating and dismissed claims of voter suppression as unfounded. While some polling places in Georgia experienced long lines, others had a smooth voting process. Kemp stated that everything was running normally and there were no unusual issues reported. However, some voters in Gwinnett County had a different experience, with long lines and voting machine problems at Annistown Elementary School. One voter, Ontaria Woods, reported waiting nearly five hours to vote after arriving early in the morning. Poll workers notified people waiting in line after 30 to 45 minutes about an issue with the ExpressPoll voting machines. Many expressed concerns about voter suppression and some decided not to use provisional ballots for fear that their votes would not be counted. A few voters left to buy food and water from Walmart while waiting for the machines to be fixed. The issue was resolved by 11 am, and the writer, Woods, was able to cast her ballot about 45 minutes later, making her late for work. Gwinnett County, near Atlanta, has traditionally been a Republican stronghold but went to Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election. According to Joe Sorenson, a spokesperson for the county government, four precincts in Georgia experienced problems with the voter access card system for electronic polling. A judge allowed several locations in the county to stay open later, with one precinct closing at 9:25 pm instead of 7 pm. Bradford Berry from the NAACP expressed concern about voting machines breaking down in certain areas. While county officials were blamed for some issues in Georgia, Abigail Collazo from Abrams' campaign placed the responsibility on Kemp. Voting-rights monitors in Arizona also reported significant delays due to ballot printing problems at some sites. The issues were concentrated in Maricopa County, the most populous county in the state, where a transition from local polling places to regional voting centers resulted in chaos two years ago. Common Cause reported that voters at the regional centers were either turned away or faced long lines due to malfunctioning printers that were supposed to produce ballots specific to their precincts. The problems in Maricopa County were described as some of the most significant seen that day, particularly affecting minority voters. At four of the affected voting centers, minority voters (Latinos, African-Americans, and Native Americans) outnumbered white voters by a significant margin. In South Carolina, a spokesperson for the State Election Commission noted that issues with malfunctioning voting machines were limited. Chris Whitmire, a spokesman, stated in an email that the issues with the system were caused by human error in its preparation and were mostly resolved earlier that morning. The Justice Department sent election monitors to 35 jurisdictions in 19 states, but Attorney General Jeff Sessions drew criticism from Democrats for focusing on fraud rather than civil rights. Common Cause President Karen Flynn expressed concern about the current political climate in 2018, noting the lack of support from the Department of Justice, the absence of protections from the Voting Rights Act, and the intimidating messages being sent by the president. In El Paso, Texas, the federal Border and Customs Protection agency cancelled a crowd-control exercise along the Mexico border after complaints from civil-rights groups and Democratic leaders about potential voter intimidation near a polling station used by Latino voters. Nina Perales, the voting rights legal director at the Mexican American Legal Defence and Educational Fund, described the incident as clumsy and insensitive at best, and potentially more serious at worst. Not all issues were as malicious as some had anticipated. For example, a viral video from a polling site in Columbus, Ohio, depicted a voter selecting the Republican candidate for governor, Mike DeWine, on an electronic ballot. However, the paper record in the video indicated a vote for DeWine's Democratic opponent, Richard Cordray. The individual who shared the video on Facebook alleged that the machine was "rigged." According to Aaron Sellers, a representative for the Franklin County Board of Elections, the machine in question had a paper jam that resulted in a previous voter's paper record being printed. The voter was able to cast her ballot again on a functioning machine. The incident was widely shared on Twitter, particularly by individuals associated with the QAnon conspiracy theory, which supports Trump.