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With record numbers of voters all across the New River Valley and the Commonwealth, Election Day problems were encountered by all of the counties within our area. According to OurVoteLive.org and the Election Protection Coalition, every county in the New River Valley had either a voter problem or voter inquiry lodged. Montgomery County, unfortunately, led the way with 29 separate incidents.
Montgomery County Of the 29 reported incidents, 15 of them dealt with voter inquiries, while 14 were reported problems. Of the voter inquiries, the majority of them concerned polling place inquiries. Some of those issues included: double checking their polling place, where to return an absentee vote, a Virginia Tech student wanted to know if she need to bring her registration card with her, and one reported that she had moved and had not updated her address. As for actual reported voter problems, some of the incidents reported were: A pumpkin was reported inside Gilbert Linkous Elem. School polling area with the likeness of John McCain, was registered to vote in NY and not Virginia and he was unable to vote in Blacksburg, a voter had tried to register by mail, but was told he failed to provide his social security number and his registration was denied, and a volunteer with “Rock the Vote” called the state election office at 6:20 p.m. and reported that 700 people were still in line waiting to vote at St. Michael’s Lutheran Church. Also the State Board of Elections addressed a rumor in one of its press conferences on Tuesday, in which it was claimed that Virginia Tech students were being turned away at St. Michael’s Lutheran Church because of the large volume of traffic coming into that particular precinct and limited parking. Susan Pollard of the Virginia State Board of Elections said, “In order to prevent traffic hazards and ensure voters an opportunity to cast their vote, local election officials had arrange satellite parking.” In fact, shortly after noon on Tuesday, satellite parking was arranged at the Kipps Elem. School on Prices Fork Road and a Montgomery County school bus was used to shuttle voters to the St. Michael’s Lutheran Church. In addition, shuttles were being provided on the Virginia Tech campus by the different campaigns. Randy Wertz, Montgomery County Registrar told EverythingNRV.com Wednesday afternoon, “No voters were turned away and that people did utilize the transportation provided by the county from Kipps.” Wertz also said, “That even though the polls closed at 7 p.m. Those voters who were in line at closing time did vote and the last person voted at St. Michael’s between 8:30 p.m. and 9 p.m.” Pulaski County Pulaski County Registrar Kathy Webb reported that there no problems or any incidents at any of the county’s polling places. There was one report of a registered voter never received their absentee ballot. Giles County There was one inquiry in the Newport precinct concerning their polling place and if they were registered to vote. No other problems were reported. Floyd County There were two voter inquiries in Floyd County. One from the Willis area dealt with a voter who wanted to vote early. The other inquiry was from the Copper Hill precinct in which the voter had voted absentee and turned it in at registrar’s office. She was then told by various friends that absentee votes were treated as provisional ballots, so she called to get the correct information. Radford City "We had no probelms of earth shattering magnitude," said Radford City Registrar Tracy Howard. "We had a voting machine to give-out in the West II Precinct, but the officers were able to retrieve the votes. We also had a lot of people at the wrong precients, some who had never registered before."In Virginia, there were 1,130 reported problems and 2,283 inquiries, according to OurVoteLive.org. Fairfax had the most problems with 302, followed by Virginia Beach 261 and Richmond 239. Polling place was the main culprit in the inquiries category with 1,154. In reported problems, registration led the way with 363. Photos: (Top left) A member of the Election Protection Coalition stands outside of the Radford Recreation Center polling precinct Tuesday. (Right) The Virginia Coordinator for “Rock the Vote” stands outside of St. Michael’s Lutheran Church in Blacksburg on Tuesday. (Bottom left) Lawyers from the Obama campaign from Washington, D.C. observed the voting at the Radford Recreation Center on Tuesday. Radford had come under fire over voting procedures concerning students at Radford University. (Photos by David Grimes)
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