Headlines for June 10, 2020

Voters headed to the polls in five states Tuesday. In Georgia, some voters had to wait in line for as long as five hours in the heat and rain due to widespread problems with new electronic voting machines and a shortage of trained poll workers. Georgia’s Republican secretary of state has launched a probe. Former gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams said, “It’s a disaster that was imminently preventable. … We found ourselves in the mix of both incompetence and malfeasance.” The New York Times has published drone footage showing hundreds of people waiting in line at one site. The lines were so long, judges extended voting hours at polls in at least 20 counties — including in areas with large African American communities. Reporters from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution posted videos of voters complaining about the long lines. This is 80-year-old Anita Heard.

Anita Heard: “This is ridiculous. In the United States of America, this time, people can’t vote. People are killing each other and can’t get along. I don’t have to like you, but I respect you as a human being. What is going on? And now we get here. People have been — look at these people. We’ve been waiting. We’ve been waiting since 6:00 this morning. Six o’clock. If you go around this building, you’ll see people waiting in line. This is unfair.”

DeKalb County Commissioner Mereda Davis Johnson said, “If this is a preview of November, then we’re in trouble.” Georgia has closed over 200 polling places since the Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act in 2013. Results from the Georgia election won’t be finalized for days. Jon Ossoff is leading in the Democratic Senate primary, but a runoff may still be needed to decide who will challenge Republican Senator David Perdue in November. In other election news, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham survived a challenge from three fellow Republicans in South Carolina. He will face Democrat Jaime Harrison in November.