Voter intimidation: It happens in America also

Many voters on the Election Day in America alleged intimidation amid other problems, including broken machines and long queues during the US Presidential polls.

The Washington Post said election observers expected a significant increase in the number of issues reported nationwide compared to earlier presidential elections.

Voters in Florida, a key battleground that ultimately went to Republican Donald Trump, reported multiple accounts of voters saying they have encountered aggressive, intimidating behaviour, said the Post, citing a nonpartisan group monitoring election issues.

"In Florida, we continue to receive a substantial amount of complaints about voter intimidation," Kristen Clarke, president of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, was quoted as saying.

The committee is running an independent effort to field voter complaints and questions.

Clarke said her group received reports of "yelling, people using megaphones aggressively".

In Jacksonville, in the northeast corner of the state, Clarke said, "an unauthorized individual was found inside (a) polling place." He was removed.

Clarke said her group had received reports from about 80,000 voters since the beginning of early voting and expected that figure to reach 175,000. In 2012, the group received 90,000 calls total on Election Day.

Voters also said they encountered problems with malfunctioning voting machines, highlighting issues with the aging infrastructure.

--IANS

sar/mr