Pennsylvania judge orders county to keep polls open until 10 pm after running out of ballot machine paper

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A judge in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, ordered polls in the county to stay open until 10 p.m. ET after voters reported some polling locations running out of paper for voting machines.

"Voters in Luzerne County through no fault of their own, were disenfranchised and denied the fundamental right to vote," Judge Lesa S. Gelb said in an order Tuesday.

To rectify the problem, Gelb said that "voting hours in Luzerne County are hereby extended until 10:00 p.m."

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Voters in one Pennsylvania county were "disenfranchised" on Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2022, according to a judge who ordered that polling places remain open until 10 p.m., two hours after polling places in the rest of the state would close. (Ben Hasty/MediaNews Group/Reading Eagle via Getty Images)

Polls in the rest of Pennsylvania close at 8 p.m. ET.

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According to a county election official, polling places were not running out of ballots but rather a special paper that goes into voting machines to tabulate votes.

"I think the extent of the turnout caught them off guard," Pennsylvania GOP General Counsel Tom King told Fox News Digital of the Luzerne County polling places' issues.

Pennsylvania's most high-profile election is a close U.S. Senate race between Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, a Democrat, and Republican Mehmet Oz.