 “When I first selected my candidate on the electronic machine, it would not put
the ‘x’ on the candidate I chose — a Republican — but it would put the ‘x’ on
the Democrat candidate above it,” Donna Hamilton said.
“This happened multiple times with multiple selections. Every time my choice
flipped from Republican to Democrat. Sometimes it required four or five tries to
get the ‘x’ to stay on my real selection,” the Frederick, Md., resident said
last week.
Queen Anne County Sheriff Gary Hofmann said he encountered the problem, too,
personally.
“This is happening here as well. It occurred on two candidates on my machine. I
am glad I checked. Many voters have reported this here as well,” Hofmann, a
Republican, wrote in an email Sunday evening.
READ ALSO: Group sues over ‘illegal’ voters.
Two other Maryland voters reported the same in Anne Arundel County on Friday.
A similar vote switch turned up in Chicago earlier last week.
Illinois Republican state representative candidate Jim Moynihan went to the
Schaumburg Public Library last Monday to vote for himself. “Instead, it cast the
vote for my opponent,” Moynihan told Watchdog.org.
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 “You could imagine my surprise as the same thing happened with a
number of races when I tried to vote for a Republican and the
machine registered a vote for a Democrat,” Moynihan said.
He notified the election judge at his polling place and
demonstrated that it continued to cast a vote for the opposing
candidate’s party. Moynihan was eventually allowed to vote for
Republican candidates, including his own race.
Back in Maryland, two voters in Anne Arundel County experienced the
same problem: A Diebold touchscreen voting machine switched their
Republican votes to Democrats. The voters had to cancel their votes
and start over.
Joe Torre, election director in Anne Arundel, called it a
“calibration issue” involving a single machine.
Hamilton said she notified officials of the problem she encountered
at the Frederick County Center, where she voted. “I’m not sure what
was done about it. If someone is not paying close attention, they
could end up voting for the wrong candidate,” she said.
Kenric Ward is a national reporter for Watchdog.org and chief of the
Virginia Bureau. Contact him at (571) 319-9824. @Kenricward
[This
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