UPDATE 7 p.m: Select Apache County polling locations will stay open until 9 p.m. tonight after a ruling by an Apache County Superior Court judge.
That’s according to Navajo Department of Justice Assistant Attorney General Katherine Belzowski.
The order is impacting nine polling places across that county.
Those polling places include Lukachukai, Lupton, Rock Point, Cottonwood, St. Michaels, Fort Defiance, Wheatfields, Dennehotso and Chinle.
ORIGINAL POST: Navajo officials tell KNAU they are filing a complaint in the Apache County Superior Court asking that several polling sites on the Navajo Nation remain open until 9 p.m. tonight.
Without a ruling they will close at 7 p.m.
It comes after a spokesperson for the Navajo Nation Presidents Offices says more than a dozen polling places on the Navajo Nation encountered problems with voting machines that prevented ballots from being printed.
He says the problem led to lines that were, in some cases, three hours long, and some tribal voters left before they could cast a ballot.
The non-profit news organization Votebeat reports those problems were alleviated by about three this afternoon.
In a post to social media, Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren advised tribal voters who encountered voting challenges to call the Apache County Recorder’s Office or the Native Vote Hotline.
The tribal vote could be critical to deciding which party ultimately wins Arizona.
Meanwhile, the Navajo County Sheriff’s Office says four polling locations on the Navajo Nation faced bomb threats today from a foreign nation.
Navajo County officials say the threats were unsubstantiated after local law enforcement swept the areas, and no polling sites closed permanently.
But out of caution, they say the Joseph City Elementary School was evacuated and students were sent home for the day.
FBI officials say they believe the threats originated from Russia.
