After celebration of historic wins by diverse candidates, the other big online trend for the US mid-term election was claims of massive and deliberate vote suppression. Reddit’s top post was an unverified video of apparent errors at a ballot machine in Indiana, while reports of hours-long queues, broken ballot machines and intimidation spread on Twitter and Facebook. A Google map of live election-related searches showed spikes in interest in provisional ballots and long waiting lines across the country. And in Florida, a church that serves as a polling station was criticised after posting a sign discouraging voters to choose Democrats, reported local media. Some reported cases were simple technical errors. In Ohio, one widely-shared claim of vote rigging turned out to be caused by a temporary paper jam.
In Georgia, where African-American candidate Stacey Abrams is contesting results in her race against incumbent governor Brian Kemp, many online are claiming that issues like ballot machines supplied without power cords and four-hour queueshelped boost Mr Kemp to victory.
Mr Kemp was responsible for overseeing his own election, and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law won emergency litigation in predominantly black areas of Georgia to extend voting times.
Before the election, 53,000 voter applications were put on hold in Georgia because of alleged problems with identification information.
Full Article: Mid-terms 2018: When voting goes wrong – BBC News.