re: Voting machines have been shut down in several Pennsylvania districts due to votes flippin

lehighvalleynews.com

BETHLEHEM, Pa. — A flaw in Northampton County’s voting machines forced multiple polling places to turn to provisional ballots Tuesday morning.

A programming error with the county’s ES&S ExpressVote XL machines is causing votes to flip when voters split their votes on retention questions for Superior Court judges Jack Panella and Victor P. Stabile. Panella, of Palmer Township, is a Democrat while Stabile is a former chair of the Cumberland County Republican Committee.

If a voter cast a “Yes” vote for one of the incumbents, but a “No” vote for the other, the votes come out flipped, Northampton County Executive Lamont McClure said.

McClure characterized the error as relatively minor and stressed all votes will be counted. But he expressed his frustration that the mistake wasn’t caught during pre-election testing.

“I'm livid at the election folks and ES&S,” McClure said.

LehighValleyNews.com staff found poll workers across the county pulled their machines off-line and relied on provisional ballots when the error was discovered in the early hours after voting precincts opened.. After the first few reports, county officials texted all locations to keep workers informed, according to a county news release.

But Northampton County Judge Abe Kassis ruled Tuesday morning that the county could continue to use the machines, McClure said. In cases where the error would pop up for the retention question, the county would flip the results during the post-election canvass. This followed a recommendation by the Pennsylvania Department of State, McClure said.

Glenn Geissinger, chair of the Northampton County Republican Committee, said his party intends to appeal this decision.

His committee supports extending voting hours to accommodate any voters who may have been turned away but objects to allowing the county to interpret how flipped votes for the Superior Court retention question should be handled, he said.