Joe Biden Wins Democratic Primaries in Georgia and West Virginia

(Bloomberg) -- Democratic nominee Joe Biden won the primary in Georgia on Tuesday, as the state’s new electronic voting machines caused confusion and long lines, particularly in the Atlanta area.

Biden, who also won the West Virginia primary on Tuesday, had amassed enough delegates to clinch the Democratic nomination by last Friday, but several states still hadn’t held contests, which had been delayed because of the coronavirus epidemic.

The former vice president was declared the winner in Georgia by the Associated Press, even though some polling places remained open because of the voting problems. President Donald Trump, who was running unopposed for the Republican nomination, also won.

Primary elections around the country that have been held during the coronavirus pandemic have been wracked with problems as poll workers don’t show up for fear of infection and there is confusion about voting by mail.

Many in Fulton County, which includes Atlanta, didn’t receive absentee ballots in time, meaning that if they wanted to vote they had to do so in person. But the state had reduced the number of polling places to encourage absentee voting and social distancing.

People stood in line for two hours at some precincts.

Some precinct workers reported that none of the new machines, the first in 18 years, were working and that they were waiting for technical help, according to the Atlanta Journal Constitution.

Names of registered voters were not showing on the lists, and there were problems with the vote-recording cards. Some precincts had run through their supply of provisional paper ballots by 9 a.m.

On Twitter, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms urged voters to keep waiting: “If you are in line, PLEASE do not allow your vote to be suppressed,” she tweeted. “PLEASE stay in line. They should offer you a provisional ballot if the machines are not working.”

And National Basketball Association superstar LeBron James said in a tweet that African-American precincts were disproportionately affected by the problems. He tied the issues with voting to the protests over police brutality that have been sweeping the U.S. since the death of George Floyd more than two weeks ago in police custody in Minneapolis.

“Everyone talking about ‘how do we fix this?’ They say ‘go out and vote?’ What about asking if how we vote is also structurally racist?”

About 1.2 million Georgians had voted early, most of them using absentee ballots. The primary had been delayed since March.

Aklima Khondoker, Georgia director for All Voting Is Local, a voting rights advocacy group, said a state-run website that allows voters to look up their registration and polling place hadn’t worked properly since early Tuesday morning.

She blamed Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger for failing to plan adequately for the election.

“Do not blame the pandemic. Do not blame the protests. Do not blame the people,” she said. “This is up to the secretary of state.”

Julianne Thompson, voter education coordinator for the secretary of state’s office, said it would be opening an investigation into problems in DeKalb and Fulton counties.

She said the counties have had six months to test new voter equipment and train poll workers, so any problems were their fault. “There’s no excuse for them to not be fully prepared for today,” Thompson said.

Biden’s campaign said the voting challenges were “unacceptable” and called for efforts to ensure the issues are not repeated in November.

“We only have a few months left until voters around the nation head to the polls again, and efforts should begin immediately to ensure that every Georgian -- and every American -- is able to safely exercise their right to vote,” said Rachana Desai Martin, the campaign’s director for voter protection and senior counsel.

Georgians have voted on computers with no paper trail since 2002. The state replaced them with new computerized ballot markers from Dominion Voting Systems late last year. The equipment creates a paper record. Critics have called it more complicated and expensive than a system based on hand-marked paper ballots.

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