In Gwinnett County, Georgia, a few precincts experienced long technical delays, while in South Carolina, some voting machines were lacking power or the necessary equipment to activate them. Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, including Pittsburgh, also faced some confusion as at least four polling places were changed last minute. In Chandler, Arizona, voters arrived at a polling place only to find the doors locked due to failure to pay rent, although officials later reopened the location. In Houston, a worker was removed from a polling site and charged with assault after a racially charged dispute with a voter, according to The Houston Chronicle. Issues with voting are a common occurrence on election day and can take days or even weeks to fully understand. However, this year there have been more calls to voting hotlines from advocacy groups than in the last midterm election in 2014. The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, which oversees 20 election call centres, reported receiving 24,000 phone calls by 5 pm on Tuesday, compared to 14,000 at the same time in 2014. Arizona, Florida, Georgia, and Texas were identified as states with particularly problematic voting issues. These problems are likely to unsettle voters who are already on edge following the controversial 2016 election, which was marred by concerns of Russian interference and unsubstantiated claims of widespread voter fraud by President Donald Trump. There has been an increase in tensions due to a contentious debate on the accessibility of voter registration, early voting, and polling sites for Americans. Election experts believe that minority voter rights have been on the decline since the Supreme Court invalidated a key provision of the 1965 Voting Rights Act five years ago. Issues with access to polling sites have resulted in extended hours in multiple states, with a judge in Texas ordering nine polling locations in Harris County to stay open for an additional hour after complaints from civil rights organizations. Similar efforts are being made in Maricopa County, Arizona by a coalition of groups. A local judge in Georgia kept several sites in Gwinnett County open, including Annistown Elementary School, which extended voting by more than two hours. In Fulton County, which includes much of Atlanta, a few precincts were also kept open for several hours. One of the precincts was Forbes Arena, where a rally with Democratic candidate for governor Stacey Abrams and former President Barack Obama was held 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 elected governor, and her Republican opponent Brian Kemp, who is also the secretary of state and in charge of the state's elections. Abrams and her supporters accused Kemp of attempting to suppress the vote through strict interpretations of state laws and procedures. Kemp contended that his goal was to prevent cheating and dismissed accusations of voter suppression as unfounded. While some polling places in Georgia experienced long lines, others saw voters coming and going smoothly. Kemp stated that the voting process had been running smoothly throughout the day, with only typical questions from voters. However, some Georgia voters faced challenges, such as long lines and voting machine issues at Annistown Elementary School in Snellville, Gwinnett County. One voter, Ontaria Woods, reported waiting nearly five hours to vote after arriving at 7 am when the polls opened. After approximately 30 to 45 minutes, election workers informed people waiting in line about a problem with the ExpressPoll voting machines, according to the statement. The term 'voter suppression' was mentioned multiple times by the people, she added. Some voters refused provisional ballots because they were concerned about whether their votes would be counted, and a few went to Walmart to purchase food and water. The machines were eventually repaired around 11 am, and Woods voted about 45 minutes later before going to work, several hours later than planned. Gwinnett, a collection of suburbs near Atlanta that is rapidly becoming more diverse, has traditionally been a Republican stronghold, but Hillary Clinton won the county in 2016. A representative of the county government, Joe Sorenson, stated that four precincts in Georgia had problems with the system that generates voter access cards for the electronic polling system. A judge decided to extend voting hours at several locations, with one remaining open until 9:25 pm instead of the planned 7 pm closing time. Bradford Berry, the general counsel of the NAACP, emphasized the need to ensure that malfunctioning voting machines are not concentrated in specific areas. While some issues in Georgia were attributed to county elections officials, a spokesperson for Abrams’ campaign, Abigail Collazo, placed the blame on Kemp. Collazo commended the dedication of Georgia voters despite polling location issues. In Arizona, voting rights monitors also reported significant delays at some sites due to ballot printing problems. Two years ago, there were issues with the voting process in Maricopa County, the state's most populous county, due to a change from local polling places to regional voting centers. According to Common Cause, voters at these centers experienced chaos as they were turned away or faced long waits because printers malfunctioned and could not produce ballots specific to their home precincts. Clarke from Common Cause described the problems in Maricopa County as some of the most significant they had seen, particularly affecting minority voters. In certain voting centers, minority voters outnumbered white voters significantly. In contrast, South Carolina had limited problems with malfunctioning voting machines, as reported by a spokesperson from the State Election Commission. Chris Whitmire, a spokesman, mentioned in an email that the issues were caused by human error in preparing the system and had been resolved earlier that morning. The Justice Department sent election monitors to 35 jurisdictions in 19 states, but Attorney General Jeff Sessions received criticism from Democrats for focusing on fraud over civil rights. Common Cause President Karen Flynn stated that the current political climate in 2018 is challenging without the support of the Department of Justice and the Voting Rights Act, along with a president who may be perceived as threatening to voters. In El Paso, Texas, the federal Border and Customs Protection agency cancelled a crowd-control exercise near the Mexico border following complaints of voter intimidation from civil-rights groups and Democratic leaders. The exercise was planned near a Latino neighborhood and 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 situation as ham-handed and insensitive at the very least, and possibly even worse. Some feared sinister problems, but not all issues turned out as bad as expected. In a viral video from a polling site in Columbus, Ohio, a voter appeared to select the Republican candidate for governor, Mike DeWine, on an electronic ballot. However, the paper record in the video actually showed a vote for DeWine's Democratic opponent, Richard Cordray. The Facebook account that posted the video claimed the machine was rigged. Aaron Sellers, a representative for the Franklin County Board of Elections, explained that the machine in question had a paper jam that resulted in a previous voter's paper record being printed. The voter was given the opportunity to cast her ballot again on a functional machine. The incident was captured in a video that was widely shared on Twitter, particularly by individuals associated with the QAnon conspiracy theory and supporting President Trump. This information is from a 2018 report by the New York Times News Service.