General Discussion

workinclasszero

(28,270 posts) Sat Oct 27, 2018, 12:10 AM Oct 2018

Texans say voting machines changing straight-ticket choices

By WILL WEISSERT today

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Some Texas voters are complaining that machines flipped their straight-ticket selections to the other party in key races during early voting, especially the much-watched Senate battle between Republican incumbent Ted Cruz and Democrat Beto O’Rourke.

The secretary of state’s office said Friday that there have been reported issues with Hart eSlate voting machines, which are used in around 30 percent of counties statewide and feature a wheel for selecting candidates and buttons to move from screen to screen. But it says they are caused by voters themselves and often occur when they complete and submit ballots too quickly.

“The Hart eSlate machines are not malfunctioning, the problems being reported are a result of user error — usually voters hitting a button or using the selection wheel before the screen is finished rendering,” said Sam Taylor, spokesman for the office of Secretary of State Rolando Pablos, who was appointed by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott.

https://apnews.com/a8825810d10441f2ad828e95d6851d55

11 replies

= new reply since forum marked as read

Highlight:

Texans say voting machines changing straight-ticket choices (Original Post) workinclasszero Oct 2018 OP

Which way? Either way needs to be resolved quickly. But is it Dem or GOP? Hoyt Oct 2018 #1

Changed to Cruz sarah FAILIN Oct 2018 #10

That's scary. Rizen Oct 2018 #2

Paper ballot. Agschmid Oct 2018 #3

paper ballot -- the only secure and publically verifiable way Hermit-The-Prog Oct 2018 #7

I just saw this being explained greytdemocrat Oct 2018 #4

BS defacto7 Oct 2018 #6

They describe machine error not user error. defacto7 Oct 2018 #5

So what happens to those votes? rockfordfile Oct 2018 #8

Cruz gets them sarah FAILIN Oct 2018 #11

You have a verification screen before it is recorded to the data card JCMach1 Oct 2018 #9

Hoyt

(54,770 posts)

1. Which way? Either way needs to be resolved quickly. But is it Dem or GOP?

Reply to workinclasszero (Original post)

Sat Oct 27, 2018, 12:14 AM

Oct 2018

sarah FAILIN

(2,857 posts)

10. Changed to Cruz

Reply to Hoyt (Reply #1)

Sat Oct 27, 2018, 02:23 AM

Oct 2018

If you chose strright dem. The state has known it for years and won't replace these machines. I figure it happened in 2016 too.

Rizen

(708 posts)

2. That's scary.

Reply to workinclasszero (Original post)

Sat Oct 27, 2018, 12:30 AM

Oct 2018

Even if this wasn't foul play it shouldn't have happened.

Agschmid

(28,749 posts)

3. Paper ballot.

Reply to workinclasszero (Original post)

Sat Oct 27, 2018, 12:31 AM

Oct 2018

Fuck the machines.

Hermit-The-Prog

(33,349 posts)

7. paper ballot -- the only secure and publically verifiable way

Reply to Agschmid (Reply #3)

Sat Oct 27, 2018, 12:55 AM

Oct 2018

Paper:
The voter can verify the ballot reflects her/his choices.
The public can verify the voter has 1 ballot, without connecting voter to choices.
The public can verify the count of ballots.

Electronic:
The voter can verify only that something in the display changed with a button press. The voter cannot verify the machine actually created a ballot reflecting the voter's choices.
The public can only verify that the voter did something to the machine.
No one can verify that the data spit out by the machine actually reflects voters' choices.

greytdemocrat

(3,299 posts)

4. I just saw this being explained

Reply to workinclasszero (Original post)

Sat Oct 27, 2018, 12:32 AM

Oct 2018

It looks like people were were screwing around
with the controls before the vote was
registered.

defacto7

(13,485 posts)

6. BS

Reply to greytdemocrat (Reply #4)

Sat Oct 27, 2018, 12:41 AM

Oct 2018

They call it turning the wheel before the screen has a chance to render then they call it human error. What they describe is machine error or manipulation... and it just happens to flip Dem to Rep. What a coincidence.