ELECTION UPDATE | Lines, technical issues in Georgia

ATLANTA (AP) — Voters in one of the nation’s most closely watched governor’s races cast ballots Tuesday amid an ongoing dispute about one of the candidates’ management of Georgia’s elections system, leaving open the possibility that supporters on the losing side may not accept the outcome.

Republican Brian Kemp and Democrat Stacey Abrams are meeting in one of the signature contests of the 2018 midterm elections, with potential outcomes ranging from the election of America’s first black female governor to another four weeks of bitter, race-laden campaigning.

Adding to the Election Day drama, widespread reports of technical malfunctions and long lines at polling stations came in from across the state, with some voters reporting waits of up to three hours to cast ballots.

The Abrams campaign tried to encourage its supporters Tuesday evening, after a state judge ordered three precincts in suburban Gwinnett County — a populous swing county in metro Atlanta — to extend their polling hours, one of them as late as 9:25 p.m.

The elections chief wasn’t immune to the difficulties: When Kemp went to cast his ballot, he had an issue with his voter card, but it was fixed quickly. He walked by reporters and said: “Take Two.”

In Cobb County, just outside Atlanta, Nicole Whatley planned to vote for Abrams, partly because “of this whole social divisiveness that’s been going on,” she said, as she stood in line to vote outside a library in a cold rain Tuesday morning.

Whatley, 33, said she didn’t appreciate how Kemp has adopted Trump’s rhetoric on immigration.

“Kemp tried to play that Trump card to get where he’s at,” she said, adding that Abrams, by contrast, highlighted unity. “Her campaign spoke about partisanship and bringing people back together,” Whatley said.

Her husband Lance Whatley, a 29-year-old software engineer, was leaning toward voting for Kemp as he waited. “It might be a game-time decision for me when I get in the voting booth,” he said.

Abrams, a 44-year-old Atlanta attorney, former lawmaker and moonlighting romance novelist would be the first black woman in American history elected governor in any state and the first woman or nonwhite governor in Georgia history. She’s already made history as the first black woman to be a major party gubernatorial nominee.