Bexar County Voting Machines Switching Votes? 'Highly Unlikely,' a Voting Expert Says — Check Your Printed Ballot, the County Adds
After at least three early voters told KSAT their selections changed, Common Cause Texas says touchscreen sensitivity — not programming — is the likely explanation, and Elections Administrator Michele Carew says the equipment is secure and any voter whose printed ballot looks wrong should tell a poll worker at once.
Reports that Bexar County voting machines switched voters' selections are highly unlikely to be what they appear, a top official with the watchdog group Common Cause told reporters, in an account by the San Antonio Current read in full this cycle. At least three early voters told KSAT last week that their selections changed from Democratic candidates to Republicans, at the Converse Community Events Center, Wonderland of the Americas and Macedonia Baptist Church, the Current reported.
"The machines are not switching your ballot," Emily French, Common Cause Texas' policy director, said on the reporters' call. Apparent changes most likely stem from touchscreen sensitivity, she said: "It may not reflect what you had in your brain when you pressed your finger to it, but people are used to touching iPhones and not Palm Pilots, and voting machines in Texas can often feel a lot more like a Palm Pilot than an iPhone." French said it is highly unlikely any outside force can cause the machines to switch votes from one party to another.
Bexar County Elections Administrator Michele Carew reiterated in a Friday statement that the county's equipment is secure, the Current reported, while her office responds to the complaints and communicates with the machines' manufacturer about whether any action is needed. Her practical instruction is the voter's safeguard: "If a printed ballot appears not to match a voter's intended choices, the voter should notify a poll worker immediately," she said. Polls reopen on Election Day, Tuesday, November 3, and voters who encounter intimidation or believe their right to vote is being infringed can call 866-OUR-VOTE, the Current noted.
