Midterm Elections 2018: Polls Are Closing, and America Is Waiting
“I tried to look over and see what she was doing,” Mr. Gillum, the mayor of Tallahassee and a Democrat, joked about his wife, R. Jai, who joined him, along with their 4-year-old twins.
“I voted for you!” she reassured him.
A crush of news cameras trailed the Gillums, who is trying to defeat former Representative Ron DeSantis, his Republican opponent.
In blue Tallahassee, Mr. Gillum attracted a flock of fans who cheered him on.
“I’m not happy with the way the country’s going. I’d like to make some changes,” said Natalie Marino, 51, a Democrat who cast her ballot moments before Mr. Gillum’s arrival. “Hopefully I can help.”
As for the possibility that he could become Florida’s first African-American governor? “We’ll worry about history later,” Mr. Gillum said.
— Patricia Mazzei
Jammed machines and long lines frustrate New York City voters
A two-page ballot appears to have caused havoc for scanning machines at polling places across New York City, as scores of broken scanners brought voting to a standstill at many locations. Read more here.
Voters report suspicious text messages
Voters in several states told The New York Times they received a text message, claiming to be from a local or state-level political group, that directed them to an incorrect polling place. This may be an example of deliberate disinformation, or it may just be that some of the voter registration data used by campaigns in their peer-to-peer texting programs is outdated or incorrect. Either way, voters who need information about their polling places should check with their state election office, or on a trusted nonpartisan site like Vote411.
Voters in Florida have also reported receiving suspicious text messages that claim to be from volunteers with the campaign of Andrew Gillum, the Democrat running for governor there. According to a screenshot of one text message reviewed by The Times, the messages claim that Mr. Gillum plans to raise taxes on people earning over $25,000 a year, and that he opposes the state’s “stand your ground” law because it is a “racist ideology.”