Ballots Flipped In Pennsylvania Election Due to Voting Machine ‘Error’: Report

Officials in Pennsylvania have blamed a “coding error” after an digital voting machine was discovered to have flipped votes in a neighborhood election earlier this month, a glitch that may little question add new gasoline to criticism of such machines and a brand new name for a return to paper ballots.

“A coding error in Northampton County, Pennsylvania’s voting machines, caused a significant issue during a recent election. The glitch resulted in votes being incorrectly flipped on a ballot question concerning the retention of two state judges,” Resist the Mainstream reported.

The glitch impacted votes for candidates vying for the Pennsylvania Superior Court, particularly Judges Jack Panella and Victor Stabile, as reported by The Associated Press. According to County Executive Lamont McClure, votes that had been initially marked as “yes” to retain one decide and “no” for the opposite had been erroneously switched on printouts from touchscreen poll machines.

The reviews indicated that the problem was substantial, impacting over 300 voting machines. Voters grew to become conscious of the glitch upon observing inconsistencies on printed information. The AP reported that the Pennsylvania Department of State verified that the issue was confined to Northampton County and didn’t happen in every other races.

“Panella’s votes will be returned to Panella, and Stabile’s will be returned to Stabile,” McClure stated, downplaying the severity of the malfunction and referring to it as a “relatively minor glitch.”

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“The county has pointed to the voting machine vendor, Election Systems & Software (ES&S), as the source of the error. Katina Granger, a spokesperson for ES&S, attributed the mistake to human error and emphasized that it was an isolated incident, affecting only the judicial retention question in Northampton County,” Resist The Mainstream added.

The subject of digital voting machines has actually come into play for the reason that 2020 election, when advocates and attorneys for then-President Donald Trump claimed — with out proof that would persuade courts — that votes had been ‘flipped’ from him to then-Democratic nominee Joe Biden.

In January, former Arizona Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake praised an Arkansas county courtroom for its resolution to reject digital voting machines in all future elections, selecting as an alternative to return to paper ballots in a transfer designed to increase election integrity and confidence in outcomes.

In a tweet lauding the choice by a Cleburne County courtroom, Lake additionally included a hyperlink to a KARK report detailing the ruling:

Officials with the Arkansas Voter Integrity Initiative Inc. (AVII) stated the vote was in response to AVII CEO Colonel Conrad Reynolds’ push for election computer systems to be faraway from Arkansas elections. The resolution will now require votes to be hand counted. 

“The machines do not read the names on the ballots, instead, they scan barcodes, which humans cannot read,” Reynolds stated. “They also utilize proprietary software that we are not allowed to examine. This all means voters cannot verify that their vote is being counted properly as mandated by state law.”

An lawyer with AVII famous that in accordance to Arkansas state legislation, every county has the best to select its voting course of.

Cleburne County Justice of the Peace Jacque Martin voted in favor of shifting to paper ballots. “It’s time we take back and return to having elections we can have faith in – with transparency and integrity,” Martin stated, in accordance to KARK.

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Officials with AVII famous they’ll try to get the remainder of the state’s 74 counties to return to paper ballots by the top of this 12 months.

In her tweet, Lake stated, “Americans in EVERY state and EVERY community must demand honest elections. No electronic voting machines, replace election month with election day and paper ballots that are hand-counted in small precincts. We demand honest & transparent elections NOW!”