US election 2016: Voting equipment faults reported from North Carolina, New York

Several counties in North Carolina are experiencing problems with the voting machine, The Charlotte Observer reports.

Optical scanner issues were reported in the following counties of North Carolina — Cleveland, Gates, Orange, Cumberland, Wake, Craven and Forsyth.

Narth Carolina is one of the crucial battleground states that will decide the fate of US presidential candidates Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton.

There were polling problems reported from Charlotte area as well. Some people said they had to press the button to select Donald Trump at least 10 to 15 times.

North Carolina State Board of Elections has told the counties to revert to paper-based voting systems, BBC reported.

ProPublica has also reported voting problems in New York, Illinois, Kentucky, Texas and Ohio.

Several states – particularly Arizona and Florida – struggled to provide obligatory support to bilingual voters.

The poll glitches come at a time when Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has repeatedly insisted that this year's election process would be roiled by voter fraud, by dead people voting and stolen votes.

Voters also reported long lines and isolated cases of harassment at polling places.

(WION)