UPDATE: 8:05 p.m. D.C. Superior Court Judge Joan Zeldon denied a request by D.C. Council Chairman Vincent Gray to keep polls open until 10 p.m. The mayoral hopeful went to the court system after the D.C. Board of Ethics and Elections would not to extend the voting by two hours. Gray had sought that earlier in the day, citing problems and several polling places Tuesday morning.
UPDATE: 7:04 D.C. Council Chair Vince Gray is asking a D.C. Superior Court judge to keep the polls open two extra hours Tuesday night, ’til 10 p.m, because of early morning problems at several voting locations. The mayoral hopeful was unsuccessful in his bid to get the elections board to extend the voting hours.
The D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics said it will not extend voting hours on Tuesday despite early morning problems at nearly 20 voting locations.
Two precincts in Ward 7 opened about 30 minutes late and more than a dozen others around the city had problems with electronic voting equipment being used for the first time this year.
“This is typical of what happens when jurisdictions implement new equipment,” said BOEE executive director Rokey Suleman.
The Gray campaign says it asked the BOEE to extend polling hours past the scheduled closing time of 8 p.m. Suleman said they won’t be doing that.
“People can come back if they were turned away, it doesn’t affect the final count,” Suleman said.
D.C. Council Chair and mayoral hopeful Vince Gray told The Washington Examiner that he’s “very disappointed” with the voting problems experienced at polls early in the day.
“People hopefully aren’t discouraged,” Gray said while greeting voters and campaign workers outside Bunker Hill Elementary School in Ward 5.
Like other precincts visited by The Examiner on Tuesday, Bunker Hill was also experiencing a slow day.
“It’s empty and it’s lunchtime… it’s very strange,” said precinct captain Andrew Frazier. He and other precinct captains suggested early voting may have cut into the election day numbers. About 22,000 voters hit the polls during the two weeks they were open before primary day.
“We’ll really be able to tell between the 4 [p.m.] and 8 [p.m.] rush,” Frazier said.
