| Date |
Problem Type |
State
|
Vendor
|
Description
|
| 2/27/2008 |
Machine malfunction |
TX |
Hart InterCivic |
Travis County (Austin). eSlates were not "connected to the system" and had to be rebooted after one voter noticed an error message telling her "Reconnect to system to record vote."
Story
Archive |
| 3/5/2008 |
Machine malfunction |
TX |
ESS |
Angelina County. Central tabulators couldn't read the vote-data cards from the M100 optical scanners. The precinct numbers labeled on the cards did not match the information inside the card, and the machines would not accept them. Acting Tax Assessor Thelma "Midget" Sherman conceded that there was a programming error down the line that could have been caught earlier.
Story
Archive
Story2
Archive2 |
| 3/6/2008 |
Machine malfunction |
TX |
Hart InterCivic |
Travis County. Only one of about nine eSlate polling machines was working properly. A technician discovered that the machine responsible for printing out access codes for voters was broken. Voting resumed about 10 a.m. after the machine was shut down and replaced with a new one.
Story
Archive |
| 4/19/2008 |
Machine malfunction |
TX |
ESS |
Angelina County. Errors are still not resolved in the tabulation of ballots scanned by the M-100 optical scanner and cast on the iVotronic e-voting machine, and collected by the ES&S "expert" technician. County officials are petitioning a judge to allow a recount. County District Attorney Ed Jones didn't have the exact numbers Friday, but gave amounts of discrepancies he thought were "close." Electronic votes from Box 13, which was at the Chambers Park rock house, were under-counted by 305 votes; Precinct 6 was over-counted by 573 votes; Precinct 11 was over-counted by 275 votes; and Precinct 11B was over-counted by 204 votes, Jones said.
Story
Archive
Update 6/7/08. A recount of the ballots from five precincts found 959 fewer votes than originally reported. The error had been caused by the technician who uploaded the results from each memory cartridge twice. Outcomes were not changed by the change in totals.
Story
Archive
|
| 5/19/2008 |
Machine malfunction |
TX |
Hart InterCivic |
Cass County. Flawed ballot programming from Hart InterCivic allowed voters who were not in District 1 to vote for the District 1 city council seat. Although only 41 residents of District 1 were signed in to vote, the number of combined votes received by the District 1 candidates was 198. The only way to remedy the situation is to have one of the candidates file suit to have the election overturned.
Story
Archive |
| 10/20/2008 |
Machine malfunction |
TX |
Hart InterCivic |
Harris County (Houston). Vote-flipping on the eSlate. Some voters voted straight-ticket Democrat then discovered that the electronic voting machines indicated they had voted for John McCain in the presidential contest.
Story
Archive
Story2
Archive2 |
| 10/21/2008 |
Machine malfunction |
TX |
ESS |
Dallas. A new type of vote-flipping in the straight-party function on the iVotronic touch screen machine. A voter voted straight-party, then attempted to deselect two of the judges in that party. When he deselected one candidate, the machine erroneously marked the opposing candidate.
Story
Archive |
| 10/21/2008 |
Machine malfunction |
TX |
ESS |
Palo Pinto County. Vote-flipping on the iVotronic touch screen machine. A voter reported to VotersUnite that her straight Democratic ticket to a straight Republican ticket TWICE "right before my eyes!" The articles tell more and mention other voters with the same complaint.
Story
Archive
Story2
Archive2 |
| 10/26/2008 |
Machine malfunction |
TX |
Hart InterCivic |
Brazoria County. Vote-flipping on the eSlate electronic voting machines. Straight-party vote flipped the vote for president. In other cases, a straight-party vote didn't select the president.
Story
Archive
One voter selected straight-party Democratic, then selected Obama for President separately, and McCain was selected instead.
Story2
Archive2 |
| 10/27/2008 |
Machine malfunction |
TX |
Diebold |
El Paso County. Vote-flipping on the Diebold touch screen machine. Straight-party Democratic vote switched to all Republicans on the review screen.
Story
Archive
Story2
Archive2 |
| 10/28/2008 |
Machine malfunction |
TX |
ESS |
Jefferson County. Vote-flipping from Obama to McCain on the iVotronic touch screen machine.
Story
Archive
Story2
Archive2 |
| 10/29/2008 |
Machine malfunction |
TX |
Diebold |
Collin County. Vote-flipping on the touch screen voting machine. Straight-party Democratic vote switched to Republican.
Story
Archive |
| 10/29/2008 |
Machine malfunction |
TX |
Hart InterCivic |
Galveston County. Vote-flipping on the eSlate electronic voting machine. Straight-party Democratic vote switched to Republican presidential candidate.
Story
Archive |
| 10/31/2008 |
Machine malfunction |
TX |
|
Jefferson County. District 22 State Representative Joe Deshotel told KBMT 12 news he voted for each candidate individually (on the iVotronic touch screen machine) and noticed that after he made his selection his vote for Barack Obama had changed to John McCain.
Story
Archive |
| 11/4/2009 |
Machine malfunction |
TX |
Hart Intercivic |
Galveston County. The election management system reported that all votes had been counted, when less than half had been counted. Officials thought this was because the system was based on 121 precincts, rather than the 40 super-precincts (voting centers) used in the election.
Story
Archive.
|
| 10/30/2004 |
Malfeasance |
TX |
|
Johnson County. Voter registration forms supposedly handled by the Department of Public Services (motor voter) somehow never made it to county election officials. Voters have shown up at the polls and been told they aren't registered. Voters can request a provisional ballot, although such a ballot is worthless if the original registration form never made it from the DPS.
Story
Archive
|
| 11/2/2004 |
Malfeasance |
TX |
|
Bexar County. Poll worker initially told voter that she was no longer eligible to vote because she hadn?t voted in the last two years and had not renewed her registration. She persisted and was allowed to vote by signing a residency form, but one man, who was told the same thing, left.
Story
Archive |
| 11/2/2004 |
Malfeasance |
TX |
|
Bexar County. Poll worker illegally told a voter she must show identification to vote, even though she had her voter registration card.
Story
Archive |
| 11/2/2004 |
Malfeasance |
TX |
|
In East Texas, some Smith County residents had trouble figuring out where to vote after the Tyler Morning Telegraph printed an incorrect list of polling places. The misprint, which listed polling places for the primary election instead of the general election, affected 27 of 77 precincts in the county, managing editor Dave Berry said.
Story
Archive |
| 10/29/2008 |
Malfeasance |
TX |
|
Collin County. At one polling station, election workers improperly demanded photo IDs from every voter. At another station, voters whose names were not listed in the state's new electronic voter database – even some with registration cards – were turned away and told to come back later.
Story
Archive |
| 10/21/2004 |
Poor design |
TX |
|
Tarrant County. Ballot wasn't counted when voter left without pressing the final "Vote" button.
Story Archive |
| 10/27/2004 |
Poor design |
TX |
|
Tarrant County. Even computer-savvy early voters in Arlington are still struggling to find the Dallas Cowboys stadium question on electronic voting machines. Story
|
| 11/2/2004 |
Poor design |
TX |
|
Scattered glitches also were reported across Travis County, where clerks at two precincts accidentally hit buttons that shut down electronic voting. Paper ballots were used until the equipment was replaced.
Story
Archive |
| 11/7/2004 |
Poor design |
TX |
|
Willacy County. Too few memory packs somehow caused the County Clerk to read machine reports wrong and initially report double the votes for president.
Story
Archive |
| 11/8/2005 |
Poor design |
TX |
ESS |
Witchita County. ES&S iVotronic touch screen machines weren't ready to vote on when the polls opened. At the end of the day, ES&S technicians had to help retrieve the results. The official explanation is that the machines were zeroed out properly in the morning, so the results couldn't be retrieved in the normal way.
Story
Archive |
| 11/8/2006 |
Poor design |
TX |
Hart InterCivic |
San Patricio County. Workers had to tally votes by hand because some ballots were three pages long and [Hart InterCivic Ballot Now scanning] machines were only designed to handle two pages. "When those workers were done, they had to start all over because they realized they had tabulated the straight party ballots incorrectly."
Story
Archive |
| 11/9/2006 |
Poor design |
TX |
ESS |
Hill County. The computer operator couldn't get the votes from paper ballots to combine with votes submitted electronically, delaying the results. The operator was an ES&S technician.
Story
Archive |
| 7/10/2008 |
Poor design |
TX |
Hart Intercivic |
The Democratic party is charging that the eSlate electronic voting machines don’t count some votes when voters cast a straight-party ballot. A spokesman for the party said voters have selected the straight party option, and then selects the candidate again in an “emphasis vote,” which really deselects the candidate on the ballot. According to a release by the Texas Democratic Party, they believe the problem has changed the outcome of at least one Texas election.
Story
Archive
Story2 |
| 10/18/2008 |
Poor design |
TX |
|
Bexar County (San Antonio). Instructions with mail-in ballots say to use the marker provided, but no marker is provided, so voters aren't sure what marker to use to ensure that their votes are counted on the optical scanner.
Story
Archive |
| 11/4/2008 |
Poor design |
TX |
Hart InterCivic |
Reported to VotersUnite: Even though I know better than to vote a straight-party option, I selected straight-party Democratic on the eSlate electronic voting machine in Precinct 60. All the Democratic candidates were selected. Then I deselected the straight-party option, but all the Democratic candidates remained selected.
I then attempted to remove the Democratic selections by hitting the LIBERTARIAN PARTY straight ticket selection. That worked. Now I was voting only for Libertarians. I could find NO WAY to NOT vote for one of the straight ticket choices (Dem, Rep, Libertarian) once I had first selected any straight ticket. Even if all three straight ticket options were unchecked.
I asked the pollworker to give me a clean slate, and erase everything. He looked around (I know he has worked elections before), shrugged and said, no, I would have to go through and just uncheck all the selections. |
| 10/21/2008 |
Registration errors |
TX |
|
Midland County. A woman who has lived at the same address since 1992 and claims to have voted twice since 2000 was told that her registration was cancelled in 2000 and her vote won't count. Her husband and mother were cancelled, too. "We show that she was canceled in the year 2000. We have no record of her ever having registered in Midland", said Midland Elections Administrator Ruth Sloan. [Editor - no record of her being registered, why is there a record of her cancellation.]
Story
Archive |
| 11/8/2006 |
Too few ballots |
TX |
|
Tom Green County. There was a shortage of ballots because of the high number of voters who chose paper ballots.
Story
Archive |
| 11/9/2006 |
Too few ballots |
TX |
|
Falls County. A shortage of paper ballots forced many voters to use the eSlate e-voting machines instead, causing long lines and long waits.
Story
Archive |
| 3/4/2008 |
Too few ballots |
TX |
|
Williamson County. So many Democrats have voted in Republican stronghold Williamson County that ballots are already running low in some precincts. Democratic election workers in some Williamson County precincts have called the county elections office today to say they’re already halfway through their ballots, and the afternoon and early evening heavy traffic has yet to happen.
Story
Archive |
| 10/24/2006 |
Vote suppression |
TX |
|
Hidalgo County (Peñitas and Palmview) - Two Hidalgo County cities that waited until Friday to request special machines for disabled voters are now forced to conduct early voting without the state-mandated consoles. A thief stole a voting machine outfitted for disabled voters out of a city grant-writing consultant's garage.
Story |
| 11/7/2006 |
Vote suppression |
TX |
|
Fort Bend County. Machines were delivered to the wrong precincts, delaying voters and casting some uncertainty on ballots already cast. Some voters missed voting in local referendums and won't be given a second chance.
Story
Archive |
| 11/8/2006 |
Vote suppression |
TX |
|
Bexar County (San Antonio). Polling places were moved at the last minute -- as far as eight miles away.
Story
Archive |
| 11/8/2006 |
Wrong ballot |
TX |
Hart InterCivic |
Tarrant County. Poll workers gave voters the wrong eSlate e-ballot for nearly eight hours, even though many were from a different precinct. The "meet and confer" proposition was missing from some ballots. Though poll workers said they could fix the problem if notified before the ballot was cast, this wasn't the case in at least one instance.
Story
Archive |
| 11/8/2006 |
Wrong ballot |
TX |
ESS |
Bexar County (San Antonio). The wrong candidates appeared on some people's ballots, erroneously showing the Congressional District 23 race.
Story
Archive |
| 11/14/2007 |
Wrong ballot |
TX |
Hart InterCivic |
Harris County (Houston). Incomplete ballots appeared on the eSlate electronic voting machines in three early voting precincts, thus denying voters their votes on a tax proposal. Though election day voters were given the correct ballots, the article says "it was too late to have those votes recorded on the main computer." So, the county technician hacked into the computer and changed the totals to include the votes from election day.
John R. Behrman, a computer expert and longtime election observer representing the Democratic Party, astutely pointed out, "Basically it turns out, without regard to any ballots that have been cast, you can enter arbitrary numbers in there and report them out in such a way that, unless you go back to these giant (computer) logs and interpret the logs, you wouldn't know it has been done."
Story
Archive |
