Paper jams plagued polling places in Cuyahoga County Tuesday morning; voting continues

CLEVELAND - There were issue with scanning ballots at several polling locations in Cuyahoga County this morning, according to Jane Platten, the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections Director.

Platten said some ballots had small tears that caused jams as workers attempted to scan the ballots into voting machines.

Platten said workers were told to put the ballots in bottom first and the problems were resolved.

"It took a little while... We needed to figure it out. Once we did, voting never stopped," she said.

Voters were told to put their ballots into a ballot box or the emergency slot in the scanner. Platten said those ballots will be counted Tuesday night. She said Republican and Democrat poll workers will then scan those ballots into the voting machine after the polls close at 7:30 p.m.

During a news conference Tuesday afternoon, Platten said there were no reports of major problems with voters at the polls.

NewsChannel5  photojournalist Dave Arnold said voters complained about one woman in Maple Heights. Voters said the woman stood outside the polling location at St. Andrew Eastern Orthodox Church for nine hours.

Voters said the woman was telling them how to vote and saying voters would face negative consequences if they didn't follow her advice.

Police were called, but the woman was not arrested.