Hand sanitiser jams ballot scanner in Iowa during US elections

The polling process had disrupted for about an hour after a ballot scanner in the US state of Iowa stopped working due to moisture from voters applying hand sanitiser.

The polling process was reportedly disrupted for about an hour in Iowa’s Des Moines when the machine stopped working due to excess moisture from the voters who applied hand sanitiser, New York Daily News quoted a spokesperson for the Iowa secretary of state Kevin Hall.

Later, the staff removed the sanitiser dispenser so that voters’ hands would be drier when they got up to the ballot scanners in a bid to prevent from another disruption in polling.

It is pertinent to mention here that the state of Iowa recorded a surge in coronavirus cases recently and has reported nearly 135,000 cases since March.

During the US elections, Voters, many wearing masks and maintaining social-distancing to guard against the spread of the coronavirus, streamed into polling places across the country through the day, experiencing long lines in a few locales and short waits in many other places. There were no signs of disruptions or violence at polling sites, as some officials had feared.

Supporters of both candidates called the election a referendum on Trump and his tumultuous first term. The winner will lead a nation strained by a pandemic that has killed more than 231,000 people and left millions more jobless, racial tensions and political polarization that has only worsened during a vitriolic campaign.