Washington, D.C., Suffers Headaches as Early Voters Show Up at Election Board HQ
By Shannon Bream & Steven Clark, FOXnews.com
Thousands of voters have been waiting in line for hours at Washington, D.C.'s Election Board headquarters to cast their absentee ballots in person.
Despite efforts to reduce long lines and voting irregularities on Election Day, thousands of voters this week have been waiting in line for hours at Washington, D.C., Election Board headquarters to cast ballots in person after requested absentee ballots failed to arrive before the voting deadline.
In a city with no early voting rules, elections officials have been accommodating the in-person vote since many voters said they had requested ballots by mail but none came. With the deadline for absentee voting looming, voters said they didn't want to miss their chance to participate in the milestone election.
"I called them up this morning and they couldn't guarantee that my ballot would arrive by tomorrow and that I should come in and vote in person," Bella Sewal told FOX News.
"So I'm here and I'm glad that I'm going to be able to vote but I'm extremely concerned that a lot of other people may be disenfranchised because of this."
Jaymes Sanford said he wanted to make sure his vote counted.
"It's extremely important to me," he said. "I've voted in every election that I've been able to since I was 18 and now not being able to vote in this one, especially one that's this important, that would upset me."
Washington, D.C. -- like many states across the country -- has experienced its share of voting headaches. Election board officials said they sent out more than 16,000 absentee ballots -- about 5,000 have been returned -- but do not know yet how many did not reach their intended destination or why not.
