Earlier this week, millions of Americans in 12 states across the country participated in the Super Tuesday election, which helped Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton move one step closer to winning their parties' nominations. However, many voters were subjected to long lines, confusing information and defective voting machines before they were able to cast their votes. Others were prohibited from voting altogether due to technicalities and strict ID laws.

Although Americans are encouraged to take advantage of their right to vote, doing so can be very difficult. Officials at Election Protection -- a nonpartisan coalition of groups that run an Election Day hotline to help voters who encounter problems -- were flooded with over 1,500 calls from voters experiencing problems at different polling sites. The majority of the calls came from Texas and Georgia, but a large number also came in from Alabama, Virginia and Colorado as well.

"We received calls from voters needing assistance on a range of issues resulting from poll worker misinformation, voter ID problems, overcrowded polls, long lines and ballot shortages," said Chris Melody Fields Figueredo, who co-leads Election Protection and acts as manager of Legal Mobilization and Strategic Campaigns at Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, to Latin Post in an email.

Barred From Voting

One student at Texas State University in San Marcos said she was banned from exercising her right to vote due to an error on her voter registration card. After Taylor Megon-Rose Thompson received the card in the mail, she noticed that her name was incorrectly spelled as "Tayllor Megan Rose Thompson." As a result of Texas' strict voter ID laws, she was barred from voting or using a provisional ballot since the name on her card did not match her photo ID.

"It was kind of upsetting," said Thompson, a progressive who was looking forward to voting for the very first time. Getting to vote "felt like it put more power into my hands, and then to not get to do it kind of sucks," she said.

Meanwhile, a man from the Dallas area told Election Protection he was forced to fill out a provisional ballot because the Texas ID law prohibited him from using his government-issued TSA employee ID to vote.

Long Lines and Confusion

Other voters could not find information about their polling site on Tuesday since state-run websites in Alabama and Texas -- meant to provide voters with info on where they can vote -- were down at times throughout the morning. It was also reported that a site in Colorado that gives info on voter registration was experiencing glitches.

Meanwhile, Georgia voters in Fulton County, which has a large minority population, and Gwinnett County waited in long lines because poll books malfunctioned. At the Inman Middle School precinct in Fulton County, only one out of three poll books were reported to be working, leaving up to 100 people to wait in line, wrote Figueredo.

"As a result, some voters left the polling place without casting a ballot," she added.

Several voters in Fulton County also reported that they were confused when they discovered that their polling places had been moved without prior notice.

Defective Voting Machines

Austin radio station KLBJ received complaints from six different Texans that a machine changed their vote, mostly from Donald Trump to Marco Rubio.

"That's not good," said one of the hosts of KLBJ's "Todd and Don Show." "You are the fourth person to call us in the past half hour to say they had that same problem. They voted for Trump but it popped up Rubio or somebody else. You're the first to have somebody else, but the other three were Rubio."

Another caller from Williamson County said he noticed his vote was switched.

"When I reviewed my ballot at the end, the person I voted for president was marked differently than how I voted," the caller recalled. "And I know that when I touched the button that I hit the right button."

"If half the people don't check their ballots, half the people could have the wrong information," the radio host said. "That's not good, that's not a system that we trust."

Furthermore, some polling places in El Paso, Texas, experienced technical difficulties on Tuesday. One voter told KFOX14 that she went to the poll at Chelsea Plaza Housing and was taken to the Republican room, where the monitors weren't working. She added that voters were asked to submit their votes on paper ballots because the machines were down.

No Vote No Voice

America prides itself on being a land of liberty, opportunity and democracy. And yet, it has been almost 250 years since the birth of the nation, and officials still have not mastered the system that gives citizens a voice in the democracy. If citizens don't have a voice, there is no nation.

"As the nation prepares for the November 8 general election, it is critical that we work with election officials across the country to ensure jurisdictions are properly prepared to implement elections," said Figueredo. "Additionally, the Election Protection coalition will work to educate, engage and empower voters by providing information on their voting rights and what they need to do in order to cast a ballot."

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