Days into early voting for the Nov. 3 election, some voters in Palm Beach County are reporting that touchscreen ballot machines are switching their selections to Republican when they try choosing Democratic candidates.
The culprit, according county election chief Wendy Link: extra-sensitive screens, combined with thick fingers or long fingernails.
The best solution, she said, is a special voting stick provided to those who request it.
Touchscreen ballots in Florida, like paper ones, list Republicans above Democrats for each race. When voters tap the oval next to a Democratic candidate, Link said, another part of their finger may graze the Republican's section, causing the machine to register their selection for the party they oppose.
"A gentleman
who had a larger hand was hitting the top of the (Democratic) candidate that he wanted, but it was hitting the bottom of the other candidate," who is a Republican, Link said.
Polling place workers instructed the big-handed man to turn his fingers sideways and tap his preferred selections, which worked, Link said.
In another case, someone with "very long fingernails" was hitting the same issue, Link said.
Touchscreen voters can review choices before turning in their ballots
Signs in polling places tell voters they can ask election workers for styluses made for the touchscreen machines, which are more accurate than fingers, Link said.
The touchscreen machines tell voters to review their choices before finalizing their vote. If a voter wants to change their selection, they can do so before printing their ballot. And if a voter either notices an error or changes their mind after it is printed, they can ask a poll worker for a new ballot, and the old one will be sealed and stored away, Link said.
No Democratic-leaning voter's ballot has been wrongly counted for the GOP, Link and a local Democratic Party official say.
Voters backing Democrats are the only ones Link knows so far to be reporting this digital problem. The handful of complaints she has heard so far have come mostly secondhand from media reporters or the Palm Beach County Democratic Party, Link said.
County Democratic Executive Committee member Nathan Lax urged calm after hearing from fellow Democrats personally and on social media that the machines were switching their votes.
While Democrats have good reason to be vigilant because of President Donald Trump's threats to interfere with elections, Lax said, "This particular situation seems to be a matter of technology that is sensitive to touch."
Trump led fellow Republicans during a Sept. 10 rally in Dallas in a pledge to "cheat like Hell" as he believes Democrats do. He has called for federal law-enforcement stationed at polling places, most recently in an Oct. 1 interview published by Time Magazine. His administration sought to ban voting machines used in half of states, Reuters reported in May.
Lax, like Link, urged voters to talk to polling place staffers if they have problems with touchscreen ballots.
Early voting runs from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. each day through Nov. 1. Polling place locations can be found online at votepalmbeach.gov/167/Early-Voting.
Email news tips and article ideas to Chris Persaud at cpersaud@pbpost.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Thick fingers, long nails switch some touchscreen votes, county says
