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Long lines, broken scanners, spoiled ballots reported at some polling places in Maryland

Posted at 2:54 PM, Nov 08, 2016
and last updated 2016-11-09 08:24:01-05

Long wait times and broken scanners have been reported at some polling places on Election Day.

Baltimore County Councilman David Marks said voters faced a two-hour line at Rodgers Forge Elementary School Tuesday afternoon. A scanner at Perry Hall Elementary School was also reportedly out of service.

At Edgemere Elementary School in Baltimore County, voters waited two hours to scan their paper ballots.

PHOTOS: Maryland voters head to the polls on Election Day

Wait times have been affected by the number of scanners available at voting centers. Katie Brown, director of the Baltimore County Board of Elections told ABC2 that only one polling location in the county has two scanners. All others received just one scanner from the state.

Baltimore County has 236 polling places, and three scanners had to be replaced by Tuesday afternoon.

No lines were reported in Abingdon, with voting taking less than 10 minutes at the Fire Hall in Abingdon thanks to a four-stop system designed to simplify the process. 

Councilman Marks urged voters to exercise patience on Election Day.

"There can be questions about the process once Election Day is over, but for now, please be patient with the election judges as they work through the problem," he said. 

In addition, at least one voter in Baltimore City reported receiving a ballot which was already partially filled out. Baltimore City election chief Armistead Jones said that complaint was an isolated issue.

He believes it was the result of a "spoiled ballot." If someone makes an error on a ballot, they hand it back to the judge and it should go in an envelope. He believes that ballot was give to another voter. Jones said board members at the location are looking into the issue.

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