Election ‘running smoothly’ so far, officials say

Published 2:09 pm Tuesday, January 5, 2021

ATLANTA — Despite what people may read on President Donald Trump’s social media, elections officials in Georgia said as of Tuesday afternoon that the statewide runoff election is running “smoothly.”

While past Georgia elections have been marred by long lines and voting machine malfunctions, the average wait time to vote in the nationally watched U.S. Senate runoff election are averaging just one minute, according to the Secretary of State’s office.

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“After wait times averaging just two minutes on Nov. 3, Georgia’s election administration is hitting a new milestone for effectiveness and efficiency,” Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said in a statement Tuesday.

As 12:45 p.m., no polling locations reported wait times longer than a half hour and only one location reported a wait time longer than 20 minutes, the office said.

But unknowing American’s watching the president’s social media are being led to believe otherwise. Trump tweeted that issues in Georgia’s 12th Congressional District with the voting machines kept voters in Republican-dominated areas from voting for more than an hour.

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The Secretary of State’s office responded that there were minor issues at a polling location on Columbia County, but nothing that kept voters from casting their ballots.

According to elections officials, a small number of keys that start up paper ballot scanners and poll worker cards were programmed incorrectly, leaving some poll workers unable to start the machines.

At no point were voters unable to vote, elections officials said. Emergency ballots were used and the issues were resolved before 10 a.m.

“I have always said that after every election, half the people will be happy and half will be disappointed,” Raffensperger said. “But everyone should be confident in the reliability of the results.”