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WASHINGTON COUNTY — Early morning voters had to resort to paper ballots at Washington County polling locations after a voting machine glitch Tuesday morning, officials said.
At 7:45 a.m., Washington County Clerk’s Office officials said they were having voting machine glitches countywide at the polling locations due to an issue with the way the memory cards were programmed. The county clerk said only 99 of the 380 voting machines were programmed incorrectly and the mistake wasn't identified until polls opened.
In a statement, Washington County Clerk-Auditor Kim Hafen said corrected memory cards were delivered shortly after noon.
"I want to apologize to anyone who had a longer wait this morning to vote, to anyone who had a poor voting experience or had unexpected heartburn because a number of our voting machines were not working when the polls opened this morning," Hafen said.
Lt. Gov Spencer Cox reported that the voting machine issue was isolated to Washington County and that new memory cards will be delivered to the polling locations soon.
Just out according to @CNN: "Utah officials report voting machine problems across entire country"
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 8, 2016
The glitch caught the attention of Republican nominee Donald Trump, who tweeted, "Just out according to @CNN: 'Utah officials report voting machine problems across entire country.'"
The issues were countywide, not countrywide.
State Elections Director Mark Thomas said his office has been "chuckling" about the tweet.
Other polling locations around the state saw long lines Tuesday, with some reporting waiting as long as two hours to vote.
"It was a long line, but it was worth it and it made me appreciate like what our forefathers fought for so we could vote," Provo voter Robert Christensen said. "It is an amazing thing."
The Traverse Mountain Elementary polling location in Lehi was among those that saw long lines Tuesday. Utah County Clerk Bryan Thompson said that the delays were caused by a high number of voters who are attempting to register to vote today, when the deadline to register in Utah County has already passed.
Voters were supposed to register online by Nov. 1 or could register by mail starting 30 days before Election Day, Thompson said. He said that between Oct. 29 and Nov. 1, Utah County had more than 22,000 people register to vote online. The people who were being told to vote provisionally Tuesday either missed the deadline to register online or by mail in Utah County. People who registered late were not printed in the Utah County registered voter records which were printed last Saturday, thus resulting in delays and long lines for voters, Thompson said.
Sen. Daniel Thatcher, R-West Valley City, said he was among many who waited two hours to vote in West Valley City on Tuesday.
"I sat and watched as person after person gave up and left or came up and asked how long the wait was and then turned around and walked away," Thatcher said. "That is absolutely unacceptable."
Salt Lake County Clerk Sherrie Swensen said lines remained at roughly 10 voting stations as of 10:15 p.m. She didn't have an estimate as to when any of the county's voting results would be released.
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Contributing: Daphne Chen, Shara Park and Brittany Copeland
