GOP Vermont governor votes for Biden
Phil Scott became the first incumbent Republican governor to publicly reveal a vote for Biden.
VERMONT (Web Desk) - Governor Phil Scott (R-Vt.) told reporters after he cast his ballot that he voted for Biden, becoming the first incumbent Republican governor to publicly reveal a vote for the Democratic candidate.
A Trump critic, Scott had said previously he wouldn’t vote for the president, but it was unclear if he would write in another name, like other anti-Trump Republican officials have done.
“It’s been a bit of a struggle for me, but I ended up voting for Joe Biden,” he told reporters, according to Seven Days, a Vermont newspaper.
Scott told reporters this was the first time he supported a Democratic presidential candidate.
“So I had to do some soul-searching,” he said.
Scott didn’t vote for Trump in 2016, and he announced in August that he would again not vote for the Republican at the top of the ticket, but at the time said he hadn’t decided whether he would cast a ballot for Biden.
- North Carolina results to be delayed after voting extended at four precincts -
Initial statewide results will be delayed about 45 minutes to 8:15 p.m. in North Carolina after the state board of elections extended voting hours at a handful of precincts.
Four voting locations in Sampson, Guilford and Cabarrus counties opened late Tuesday morning due to technical glitches and other minor problems, officials said during a virtual meeting. The majority-Democratic board voted to prolong voting for between 17 and 45 minutes at each location, based on the length of its delay.
Results from early in-person and mail ballots cast before Election Day had been expected at 7:30 p.m., when nearly all the polls will close in the state. The extensions mean those results can now be expected around 8:15 p.m., officials said.
“Minor issues are going to happen, and protocols are in place to address those circumstances as they arise, to ensure all voters can cast their ballots successfully,” Karen Brinson Bell, executive director of the North Carolina State Board of Elections, said earlier in the day.
- Long lines to vote in Maine as Portland voters observe pandemic precautions -
A line of more than 100 people stretched down the block at Reiche Elementary School in Portland, where voters faced delays as officials enforced social distancing at the polls.
“It’s going to be a little bit of a wait, but we’re going to get you in there,” Dennis Martin, warden of the polling site, told waiting voters on the 38-degree morning.
The need to keep poll workers and voters spaced out meant that only a handful of people could be let in at a time, Martin said. Poll workers asked voters to move across a nearby street to give space to children arriving for the start of school. “We ve never seen this many people before,” a poll worker said.
The Portland city clerk said pandemic safety measures were causing voting delays throughout the city.
“Every polling place has long lines,” City Clerk Katherine Jones said in an email. “Because of COVID and spacing we can only allow so many in the buildings at one time."
A spokeswoman for the Maine secretary of state said state election officials hadn’t received complaints of voting delays elsewhere in the state, though they have warned the public about longer waits.
“Lines will appear longer due to the distancing spacing, and we have advised voters to plan for longer wait times at the polls than usual since only 50 people are allowed per room at one time and polling booths are limited due to spacing as well,” the spokeswoman, Kristen Muszynski, said, referring to an executive order limiting how many people may congregate indoors in Maine.
