Tennessee voters report touchscreen ballot problems during early voting
publishers 12articles 12first reported 21 Oct, 23:42 UTCdeveloping since 22 Oct · 8 editions
Stella Parton said a touchscreen voting machine repeatedly registered Republican Marsha Blackburn instead of Democrat Jerri Green as she voted early at Nashville’s Hermitage Library.
Parton, the younger sister of country music star Dolly Parton, wrote on Facebook that she corrected her selection three times before completing her ballot. She urged voters to review their choices and alert poll workers to problems. Other voters responding to her post described similar difficulties, including needing to press a candidate’s name several times before the machine recorded the intended choice.
Voters in Williamson County also reported machines displaying Blackburn after they tried to select Green. Blackburn and Green are competing in Tennessee’s gubernatorial race.
The Tennessee Secretary of State’s office told WSMV that it had received one complaint about a machine inadvertently switching a selection among roughly 400,000 ballots already cast. Officials said voters who notice a problem should notify a poll worker before submitting their ballot. Reports of touchscreen difficulties by themselves do not establish that votes were changed after submission or that election rigging occurred.
Following complaints during early voting, Nashville election officials brought back stir sticks for voters to use when making selections on ballot machines, according to The Tennessean.
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