Confusion and delays plagued early voting in Riverside County Saturday, with one lawmaker claiming electronic voting systems were down.
In a tweet sent around noon, state Sen. Melissa Melendez, R-Lake Elsinore, said, “Voting machines in Riverside County are down. We are working on finding out what the problem is and when the registrar will have this fixed. This is completely unacceptable.”
But Brooke Federico, public information officer for Riverside County, said in an email, “The electronic voting system is not down. The voter assistance centers are open and processing voters. We are working through some delays and will have a statement shortly.”
Some voters took to Twitter to complain about the delays and hours-long lines at voting centers.
Election officials reportedly were telling voters at polling places to fill out paper ballots until the issues with the voting system were sorted out.