Election 2018: Still in line? Stay in line, even after the polls close

The 2018 midterm elections were plagued by hours-long lines across the country. And Southern California wasn’t spared.

In Riverside County, the wait stretched for more than two hours just to get in the door of the Registrar of Voters building at 2724 Gateway Drive.

“If they want to continue to wait, we’ll process them,” said Rebecca Spencer, Riverside County registrar. She added that the registrar’s office still plans to post the first election results, based on mail ballots, between 8 and 8:30 p.m., then issue updates as scheduled after that even though people will still be voting at the registrar.

In California, any voters  — even those with vote-by-mail ballots — in line at 8 p.m. when the polls close will be allowed to cast their vote, according to the Secretary of State’s website.

However, any voter who arrives after the polls have closed will not be allowed to vote. Poll workers will be watching to mark the end of the line.

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For voters across the rest of the country, lines stretched to more than three hours long in Georgia and some other states. The wait time was attributed to malfunctioning equipment, lack of paper ballots and registration errors.