Md. residents encounter long lines on election day

Whether you have have already voted or plan to hit the polls in the few hours remaining, one thing many local Maryland residents have encountered throughout election day have been long lines.

“I’ve never had to stand in line to vote for all the years I’ve lived in Pocomoke,” says Kristy

“They just walked in and there was just an initial look of shock because they couldn’t believe how long the lines were like “oh my I can’t wait, it’s going to take two hours,” says Regina Dale, a chief judge at Pocomoke Community Center.

That was the reaction of many folks as they entered the Pocomoke Community Center to cast their vote on election day.  Dale tells 47 ABC folks were lining up outside the door since about 6:15 AM, and within a few hours,  they were running out of space inside for people to wait in line.

“The lobby was full the line was looped around a couple times inside the community center, down the hallway, we even had to go into a conference room that’s next door to us to loop the line around there,” says Dale.

Officials also tell 47 ABC they even had to call for back up.

“We needed additional people just to allow someone to take a momentary break to just even go to the restroom,” says Martina Wharton, a chief judge.

Also in Wicomico County election officials say they’ve also been swamped. Tuesday morning,  Anthony Gutierrez confirmed that the voting machine over at Pemberton Elementary had a paper jam that caused delays for a few minutes. They also tell us they’ve received complaints about delays, which Wicomico officials say can be due to the additional questions on this year’s ballots.

In Maryland, polls will remain open until 8PM.