Director: Error made GOP votes appear Dem

(Lebanon) — A problem with the calibration of electronic voting machines in Lebanon County has caused 5-6 machines to represent straight Republican tickets as straight Democratic tickets, said Michael Anderson, director of the Lebanon County Bureau of Elections.

In these cases, the voter attempted to vote for the full Republican ticket, but noticed in the review screen that the vote was going to a straight Democratic ticket instead, Anderson said. They alerted their poll workers, who alerted the Bureau of Elections.

The Bureau of Elections has a software expert who was able to solve the problem in each case, he said. It involves a calibration issue regarding the machine.

In each case, the voter was able to successfully change their ballot to the desired ticket, Anderson said. He was not aware of anyone actually casting an incorrect ballot. He was not sure whether there were any instances of a straight Democratic ticket appearing as a straight Republican ticket.

The polling locations where the error occurred include Myerstown Community Library and locations in Annville Township and East Hanover, he said.

Cecelia McNaughton judge of elections for first ward west confirmed one similar incident at the Lebanon Municipal Building. She said a man voting straight Republican ticket at 7:30 a.m. alerted her that the machine showed the Democratic slate of candidates. She cancelled the vote and the man completed his voting on another machine correctly. After notifying voter registration, within minutes a technician arrived and correctly recalibrated the machine.

McNaughton said the machine has been functioning fine ever since.

Concerns about the error at polling locations have also been the subject of discussion on the Facebook pages of several Lebanon County residents.

All voters are encouraged to review their ballot before casting it, and to alert their poll worker or the Bureau of Elections if there are any problems, Anderson said.

This article is part of a content-sharing partnership between Lebanon Daily News and WITF.