Some irregularities and problems were reported in Tuesday's midterm elections in the United States, in which all 435 House seats were up for grabs and 33 seats in the Senate were to be reelected.

In Virginia, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was conducting a preliminary probe into allegations that some voters in eight counties had received deceptive phone calls before Election Day, CNN reported.

In Ohio, the Democratic Party filed suit citing numerous problems, including late poll openings, machine problems and confusion over the state's identification laws, said local media reports.

A bomb threat delayed the closing of polls at a school in Madison, Wisconsin, by one hour, after voting was halted briefly.

Closing time was delayed in some polling stations in several states due to voting machine glitches. In Delaware County, Indiana, polls remained open an extra two hours and 40 minutes, because of a computer error with electronic voting machines.

In Indiana, paper ballots had to be used in more than 100 precincts in Marion County because touch screens on electronic voting machines weren't working; in New Jersey, Republican voters filed four affidavits saying they weren't able to vote for the Republican Senate candidate, news reports said.

The FBI was also investigating allegations that a Democratic volunteer at a polling site was carrying uncounted absentee ballots in Monroe County, Indiana; and in Arizona, three men had reportedly stopped Hispanic voters and questioned them outside a polling station.

The Justice Department dispatched more than 850 people to watch the polls in 69 jurisdictions across the country on Tuesday, focusing primarily on areas with closely contested races or a high number of minority voters.

The number of poll watchers was a record for the department and more than twice the number sent during the 2002 midterm elections, The Washington Post reported Tuesday.

The observers would focus on determining whether or not localities were complying with federal laws forbidding discrimination based on race, disability or language, the department said.

Source: Xinhua