USA Today/Gannett: A tense nation casts a vote for smooth midterm election despite Arizona voting issues

WASHINGTON – Voting rights advocates reported a generally smooth Election Day on Tuesday as millions of Americans cast ballots in the nation’s pivotal midterms even as a glitch with voting tabulators in a key Arizona county emerged as an issue on the right.

Despite the problems at several dozen polling locations in Maricopa County, Arizona, a subtropical storm bearing down on Florida and a number of cyber attacks on state election websites, election observers said the problems some voters encountered as they made their choices appeared to be isolated, routine and manageable for poll workers.

“What we are seeing are things that we usually see on Election Day,” Susannah Goodman, director of election security for Common Cause, told reporters. “There are glitches in the system, but election administrators have learned from the past and they have resiliency built in.” …

And then there were issues that voting rights groups described as “weird.”

A priest in Toledo was unexpectedly checking the identification of voters, said Catherine Turcer, executive director of Common Cause of Ohio. In Summit County, home to Akron, a man was seen observing polling places before being asked to move along.

Katya Ehresman, an organizer for Common Cause of Texas, said there were a handful of incidents of alleged voter intimidation within 100 feet of polling locations, but the problem wasn’t widespread. She said there was “overwhelming enthusiasm” for voting statewide.

“I’m really excited about the turnout we are seeing,” Ehresman said.