AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:
The polls are open across the U.S., and tens of millions of people have already cast ballots in the presidential election. We're going to get an update now on some of the voting issues that have come up so far. NPR's Brian Naylor has been watching the voting today and joins us now in studio. Hey there, Brian.
BRIAN NAYLOR, BYLINE: Hi, Audie.
CORNISH: So how has voting been going so far?
NAYLOR: Well, it's the typical things that you see on Election Day - long lines reported at many polling places, and there have been glitches with voting machines in some places, in a county in Utah. Durham, N.C., had perhaps one of the biggest issues when their computerized voting registration lists went down and they had to go back to using paper ones. That created some big delays, long lines.
The local chapter of the NAACP has asked officials in North Carolina to extend voting there. And folks running a voter help line say they have fielded some 20,000 complaints so far. Here's Kristen Clarke, who is president of the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights.
KRISTEN CLARKE: Most certainly what we have observed is an uptick in the number of complaints regarding voter intimidation and voter harassment.
NAYLOR: Now, this is the first presidential election that is not protected by some key provisions of the Voting Rights Act that was struck down by the Supreme Court - still, no major incidents. By and large, things seem to have been running pretty smoothly from what we've heard so far.
CORNISH: Right now Donald Trump has already had - has already been raising some concerns about the voting process. What have you been hearing?
NAYLOR: Well, he gave an interview to Fox News this afternoon and said there are reports of problems with voting machines in various places that have switched Republican votes to Democrats.
Now, this does happen from time to time for both parties. Often it's the - it's poorly calibrated voting machines, sometimes even voter error. But we've heard nothing, no widespread reports of any problems like that.
CORNISH: Still, the Trump campaign has filed a legal challenge about the voting process in Nevada specifically. What do you know about that?
NAYLOR: Yeah, so the Trump campaign is upset that some early voting locations in Clark County, Nev., remained open on Friday night to accommodate those who were lined up to vote. And now, Nevada law allows polling places to remain open to allow those in line to vote.
But the Trump campaign charged that other voters were allowed to cast their ballots who showed up after the lines had been cleared. And they wanted a judge to set those votes - ordered that those votes be set aside and that the poll workers be identified for possible future legal challenges.
CORNISH: And the response so far...
NAYLOR: Well, what happened - the judge basically dismissed the - and not basically - summarily dismissed the suit, telling the Trump campaign that it needs to take it up - their problems up with the secretary of state's office before coming to court.
CORNISH: That's NPR's Brian Naylor. Brian, thanks so much.
NAYLOR: Thanks, Audie. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
