This 5th Ward Polling Location Had a Rough Election Day

An iPad used to check in voters broke. The scanner used to process special-election ballots stopped functioning. Some voters were not given special-election ballots. Others waited in line for more than an hour and a half. Police were called to address complaints of “voter intimidation” on site. And this was all before noon on Tuesday.

Voters’ experiences at the Carr Square Community Center polling location dramatically contrasted with glowing reviews on the whole from other voters about their respective polling places. At Carr Square, it took well over three hours to fix the malfunctioning iPad and special-election ballot scanner.

The polling location was responsible for carrying out a special redo election for the 5th Ward Committeeman race. The initial election for the seat took place on August 2; incumbent Rodney Hubbard Sr. faced off against young newcomer Rasheen Aldridge. Hubbard Sr. received the most votes, but a judge later called for the election to be redone because many of the election’s absentee ballots cast were deemed irregular.

This meant that voters had to complete two separate ballots at polling locations in the 5th Ward: one for the general election and one for the special runoff election. Early in the morning, many voters coming out of the polling location reported that they were not given the special-election ballot unless they explicitly asked for it. And even then, they reported that the location’s workers seemed unclear about how to handle their requests.

“This is what they want. They don’t want us to vote,” said one frustrated voter while exiting the polling location. “This wouldn’t have happened anywhere else.”

Election officials visited the polling station throughout the day, attempting to address issues and reminding poll workers of the correct protocol. Asked why poll workers were not handing out special-election ballots to every voter, Republican Director of Board of Election Commissioners Gary Stoff said, “That’s not the way they were trained.”

The problems at the polling station resulted in long lines and heightened tensions. Outside the entrance to Carr Square, Hubbard’s son, Rodney Hubbard Jr., confronted volunteers handing out materials in support of Rasheen Aldridge. The dispute lasted for more than an hour, according to two witnesses in the area at the time. Democrat Roving Deputy Angela Newsom declined to describe the specifics of the argument, besides calling it an exchange of “colorful words.”

“It’s always a little bit ugly at Carr Square,” said Natalie Vowell, the founder of local nonprofit Project Raise the Roof. Vowell was at the site, supporting Aldridge, on Tuesday. “But this year was pretty heated.” The police were eventually called to break up the disturbance.

After votes were processed late Tuesday, Aldridge was reported to have won the 5th Ward Committeeman seat. Aldridge and Hubbard did not respond to requests for comment.

To make sure voters weren’t prevented from voting or unnecessarily delayed, a nonprofit called Advancement Project deployed volunteers at polling locations throughout the metro area. Denise Lieberman, the senior attorney at the organization, said that the most significant voting issues in St. Louis occurred in the morning.

“A number of poll sites, particularly in St. Louis City, opened late, had equipment malfunctions with the new digital poll books and major issues with the electronic voting machines, resulting in long lines,” she wrote in an email on Tuesday evening. “We were getting reports of two hour wait times in the morning.” She specifically called out the 5th Ward as being what she called “the most problematic.”

In St. Louis County, Lieberman reported that Advancement Project received calls about voters  missing from the rolls, including many who had received confirmation in the mail. She also received calls from voters about polling sites improperly requesting a photo I.D.