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With less than two weeks left until the mid-term elections, voters in Georgia are having a difficult time casting ballots for their intended candidate.
—Final stretch of campaigns dominated by race—
In at least five Georgia counties, the Georgia NAACP branch has been inundated with complaints about voting machine irregularities and problems picking candidates, FOX 5 reports.
“I pushed Stacey Abrams and it placed an ‘X’ in the box for Brian Kemp. So, that concerned me,” said voter Pamela Grimes, who cast her ballot in Bartow County last Thursday during early voting.
Bartow County Election Supervisor Joseph Kirk maintains that he did his due diligence and calibrated the voting machines ahead of early voting which started October 15. However, he admits that some of the machines are antiquated.
“This is a calibration issue. That is all this is. This is older technology and the machines were uploaded in 2002, the springs have to be calibrated to say when you touch this spot, this is what you are actually touching,” Kirk said.
He urged voters to report any problems to poll workers immediately.
But Georgia NAACP President Phyllis Blake says the problem with the Georgia voting machines has yet to be addressed.
“This is a shame and speaks to the integrity of our voting machines and election officials,” Blake complained.
Complaints have come into the NAACP from Bartow, Candler, Cobb, Dodge, and Henry counties.
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Voter suppression is a hot-button issue in Georgia that one that gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams is addressing head on since she is running against Secretary of State Brian Kemp who oversees voting in the state.
Abrams said: “Under Secretary Kemp, more people have lost the right to vote in the state of Georgia,” Abrams said on Tuesday during a televised debate. “They’ve been purged, they’ve been suppressed and they’ve been scared.”
A spokeswoman for Kemp said that the Republican gubernatorial candidate is aware of the issue, but no there is no official investigation underway.