On Election Day morning, all of the voting machines in Georgia’s Spalding County were temporality down after a “glitch” wreaked havoc on their system.
According to WSBTV, the Secretary of State’s office said mid-morning on Tuesday that “the system is back up after a glitch caused major problems at polling places across Spalding County today.”
“Officials say workers in Spalding County incorrectly loaded information onto the poll pads Tuesday morning so none of the machines were working,” the report said.
Quickly trying to fix the problem, county officials “rushed thousands of provisional ballots to each precinct so voting could continue,” WSBTV said, adding that “many voters spent much or the morning standing in line. Some chose to come back later in the day.”
Tuesday morning, the Spalding County Sheriff’s Office alerted residents to the error via Facebook: “The computers at all polling locations across Spalding County are down. The problem is being worked on and hopefully will be resolved quickly. Until the issue is fixed, paper ballots are being used at all locations.”
Spalding County Elections Supervisor Marcia Ridley urged voters “to be patient and assured voters that they will be able to cast their ballots,” according to WSBTV. “She said they have no plans to stay open past 7 p.m. unless there is a court order.” Though, if you are in line by 7 p.m., you are permitted to vote into the night.
During the 2016 presidential election, Spalding County went 60.9% to President Donald Trump and 36.4% to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, according to The New York Times.
Georgia is an important battleground state for Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden. According to RealClearPolitics, Trump is favored in GA +1, recently flipped from Biden +1.2. Back in 2016, Trump overtook Clinton to win the state.
The Daily Wire reported Tuesday morning on the tightening of the race:
It’s the morning of the election, and the final polls show the race coming down to razor-thin margins in the key battleground states that will ultimately decide who is in control of the executive branch for the next four years. Multiple latest national polls show President Trump within 5 points of Joe Biden, including one pollster who gives Biden only a 1-point edge and another who puts the gap at just 3. Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by 2.1% only to go on to get trounced in the Electoral College. Meanwhile, the once formidable leads Biden held in potentially decisive battleground states have contracted dramatically in the final weeks of the election, giving Trump a precarious but nonetheless possible path to victory.
National polls are showing the gap between Trump and Biden narrowing significantly from Biden’s once dominant lead, too: “A lead that was once 9+ points by average shrunk to now less than 7. Rasmussen gives Biden a negligible 1-point advantage, while IBD/TIPP gives Biden just a 3-point lead. Other polls, however, give Biden a double-digit advantage, including studies by Quinnipiac and Economist/YouGov.”