Yesterday’s primary elections were once again marred by serious problems at the polls, especially in Georgia. However, in this case, the issues with super had less to do with the COVID-19 pandemic, and more to do with the state’s own ineptitude.
Almost 90 percent of Georgia”s polling places were open on Tuesday, which is far more than in many other states that have held primaries recently. Only one problem: Georgia’s the new voting machines., which were put in place after the claims of voter suppression in 2018, that didn’t work out as well as hoped. There isn’t evidence of foul play, but the state building was clearly not prepared to hold an election with the new equipment.
The state, apparently passed on “what it deemed to be the best voting machines available, opting for a cheaper vendor that had a telephone installed so much equipment in such a short period of time. And some polling places in Cobb, DeKalb, Fulton and Gwinnett counties opened late because of problems booting up the machine; some didn’t even receive the necessary equipment until after the polls were supposed to open. The Poll workers in Columbus has also had trouble setting up the ballot printers, which they blamed on lack of training due to the coronavirus. And at one precinct, workers spent an hour trying to figure out how to insert the cards that record votes into the new machines. — before figuring out they were putting them in upside down.
There were also online reports of the several voting machines simply not working, which led to some of the longest lines. The problems seemed to be the most in-acute, metro Atlanta, raising fears about the equal voting access for the general election.
The finger-pointing that is the problem soon followed, with the secretary of state’s office saying there were no actual malfunctions, just user error. But county elections officials sniped back that’s the secretary”s office had failed to adequately prepare for them. By the end of the day, both Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and state House Speaker David Ralston had announced they were opening investigations into what went wrong.
The problems were so severe that many polling places stayed open late: Voters had until 9 p. m. to get in line in Fulton County, and precinct one in DeKalb County, that was open till 10:10 p. a. m. This meant results were late to be reported, so many Georgians went to bed not knowing who won one of the day’s key elections. Georgia”s marquee contest, which I was likely for the Democratic primary for the Senate, but this investigative filmmaker, and former House candidate Jon Ossoff may have fallen just short of avoiding an August runoff — based on results as of 8 a. m, he had 49 percent of the vote, but many votes remain outstanding in metro Atlanta, where I’ve performed well. If there’s a runoff, it’s not yet clear who Ossoff would face former Columbus Largest Teresa Tomlinson was at 15 percent while the 2018 lieutenant governor candidate, Sarah Riggs’amico had 13 percent.
Georgia also had a number of competitive congressional primaries. In the The 7th Congressional District, physician at Richard McCormick’s appears to have avoided a runoff for the GOP nomination in this Atlanta-area open seat, with 55 percent of the vote and 97 percent of precincts reporting. The Democratic race, on the other hand, appears to be headed to a run-off for the for the 2018 nominee Carolyn Bourdeaux fell-a bit short of the 50 percent. She will face state Rep Brenda Lopez Romero. Meanwhile, the GOP-primaries-in the solidly Republican 9th and 14th congressional districts will require runoffs, as well. In the 9th Congressional District, and state Rep., Matt Gurtler-and-gun-store-owner Andrew Clyde advanced from a crowded field, with only about 20 percent eachand in the 14th Congressional District, businesswoman Marjorie Greene, and the neurosurgeon, John Cowan both the advanced, although Greene won substantially more of the vote (41 percent vs. 20 percent). Lastly, it looks as if the safely blue 13th Congressional District, which will also feature a runoff, with Democratic Rep. David Scott winning 47 percent of the vote in the against former state Rep. Keisha Waites, who had 31 percent.
The Other states holding primaries yesterday also experienced problems, albeit not on Georgia”s scale. At least a few voters in the South Carolina and West Virginia did not receive absentee ballots they requested. And there were also reports of long lines in the South Carolina and Nevada. However, if the super had more to do with the pandemic than what happened in Georgia. For instance, Nevada announced that it would hold predominantly email-primary months ago, but with its culture of in-person voting meant that some long lines in the one polling place is open in Reno”s Washoe County, the home of the 315,646 registered voters), and the three in The Vegas’the Clark County (1,331,067 registered voters). By contrast, South Carolina, ready-to-open-around 2,000 of its usual 2,250 polling places, but were gone understaffedleading to the long waits. And for the loan of the different precincts into the same polling place, caused poorly trained poll workers to give some voters ballots for the wrong state House district.
The Nevada results were late to arrive, and the in-person voting was kept open late to accommodate the crowds of voters still waiting in linebut here’s what we know about the two House races that we were watching. In Nevada”s 3rd District, and it looks as if former, however, Give Rodimer is on track to defeat former state Treasurer, Give Schwartz a 44 percent to 33 percent. That means Rodimer, will now likely face Democratic Rep. Susie Lee in November in this swing district. In the 4th District, the picture is less clear, as a fair number of votes, and are very good in Clark County, but former state Assemblyman, Jim Marchant is in the lead with 34 percent of the vote, although the insurance agent and a veteran Sam, He is not too far behind at 30 percent.
In South Carolina, one of the more talked-about House primaries ended up being rather one-sided. In the South, it (the 1st District), state Rep. Nancy Mace won the Republican nomination defeating Mount Pleasant Town Councilwoman Susan’s Landing by a little over 30 points. That means Master will now face Democratic Rep. Joe Cunningham in the seat to Trump, carried by as many as 13 points in 2016, according to Daily Kos Elections, making it one of the top GOP targets in the House. She will also give Republicans an opportunity to expand their small number of women representatives — it is just 13 one of the 197 Republicans in the House are women of color.
And finally, the West Virginia-that didn’t end up with much drama, in its Republican primary for governor. Even though that is Difficult. Jim Justice, won his seat in 2016 as a Democrat before switching parties in the fall of 2017I still easily dispatched his two main rivals to win renomination, with 63 percent of the vote in the. On the Democratic side, however, the Mountain State offered some pizazz to the more moderate Kanawha County Commissioner Ben Salango defeated populist community organizer, mr. Stephen Smith, by about 6 points, 39 percent to 33 percent. Salango is endorsed by Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin — one of the only remaining statewide Democrats in the rapidly reddening West-Virginia — but he will enter the general election as a big underdog against Justice.
