Photos: Voters brave heavy rain, snow at the polls during 2018 Midterm Elections
Rain and thunderstorms dampened the eastern United States on Tuesday as people headed out to vote in the 2018 Midterm Elections.
AccuWeather predicted that adverse weather would impact several states with key races days before the polls opened on Tuesday morning, including the risk of rain and severe storms across the eastern U.S.
Voters from Georgia through Maine waited in long lines amid heavy downpours to cast their ballots, while some across the north-central U.S. saw snowy weather on their way to the polls.
The weather also disrupted the vote-counting process in some parts of the region, including in North Carolina where high humidity levels caused issues with the machines used to process ballots.
“Initial reports from county elections offices indicate this issue is caused by high humidity levels,” the North Carolina State Board of Elections & Ethics Enforcement (NCSBE) said.
“When ballots cannot be read by tabulators, they are stored securely in 'emergency bins' and will be tabulated as soon as possible,” the NCSBE said.
Meanwhile, severe thunderstorms on Monday night caused two precincts in West Virginia to open late, according to the Associated Press. Over a dozen other precincts across the state were without power early Tuesday morning, but generators were used until power was restored.
A thunderstorm also caused a media tent to collapse outside the headquarters of Florida Democratic Gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum Tuesday night. The media members were evacuated and there is no word on if any injuries occurred.
