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Voter rights hotline center buzzing nonstop on Election Day

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Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2012
By Maryann Batlle
Cronkite News

WASHINGTON — Phones were ringing off the hook Tuesday at the Election Protection hotline headquarters in Washington, D.C., where organizers said they expected to meet or surpass the 100,000 calls they logged on Election Day 2008.

Every few seconds, a confused caller would phone in for help with everything from finding a polling place to answering a question about new voter ID laws to complaining about long lines.

Almost 75,000 phone calls had flowed into the hotline call centers nationwide by 5:30 p.m. EST, with polls on the West Coast and in Alaska and Hawaii still hours away from closing.

Many of the calls came from California, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, Texas, Florida – and Arizona.

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