Voters in at least six Kentucky counties officially reported issues with the touchscreens on ballot-marking machines this election.
In most reported cases, voters trying to vote straight-ticket Democrat were told they had instead marked straight-ticket Republican. Voters who reported the issue at the polls were able to get the issue fixed and election officials stress the results of the election were accurate.
That was the case for around 10 voters who voted at the Madison County Public Library on election day, according to the election judge there.
Those numbers weren't reported to Madison County Clerk Kenny Barger, he said.
It underscores how it’s impossible to know exactly how many voters faced the issue, both because not all reports of issues made their way to centralized locations, and because voters who were able to resolve the issue on their own without assistance didn’t make a report of an issue at all.
It would seem many of the reports statewide that clerks know about are just those who were reported to the attorney general’s office, Barger said.
23 Kentucky counties use the same ballot marking system as Madison County, according to the secretary of state’s office. It’s called ES&S Express Vote Machines. The company let all the counties know about the issue with their touchscreen.
Those counties, according to the secretary of state’s office, are Jefferson, Kenton, Madison, Clinton, Rockcastle, Laurel, Knox, Jackson, Clay, Leslie, Menifee, Powell, Lee, Elliott, Morgan, Wolfe, Breathitt, Knott, Letcher, Magoffin, Floyd, Johnson, and Martin.
LEX 18 called county clerks/election officials in each of those counties to ask if any touchscreen issues had been reported to them.
No issues were reported in Jefferson, Kenton, Rockcastle, Laurel, Jackson, Leslie, Lee, and Martin.
Floyd, Powell, and Johnson counties received one report of an issue. Clay received three reports. Magoffin received five reports. The Madison County clerk said he wasn’t sure of the exact number.
Not all reports had specifically to do with straight-ticket voting. In Johnson County’s case, the voter had tried to vote straight-ballot Republican, but the device said he had selected Democrats.
Most, but not all, clerks said they showed people the steps they could take when voting to avoid what leads to the touchscreen issues, such as posting signs or having poll workers explain the proper method to voters. They also reminded voters to double-check their ballots before submitting them.
Each clerk we spoke with said they should be confident the result of the election is accurate, some saying the safeguards they put in place helped with their confidence in the assessment.
Other counties either did not respond, or we were unable to reach them.
On election night, Adams said he was only aware of issues in Madison and Floyd Counties.
He made note of how the issue wasn’t with ballot-counting machines.
“It was on a marking device, all people had to do was override it and check all people they wanted to vote for, so to our knowledge not a single vote was cast in error, no one voted for someone they didn't want to vote for, it's been kind of a non-issue,” Adams said.
That’s an assessment Kevin Rankin and Gina Shouse disagree with. Both told LEX 18 that they tried voting straight ticket for one party, but the machine showed they had picked the other party. Both were able to get the issue resolved before submitting their ballots.
Shouse, who lives in Breathitt County, said she was very upset about what happened.
She says she didn't see any signs at her polling location telling her to avoid clicking what appeared to be a check box, so that’s what she clicked, which is what had been triggering the wrong selection.
She says had she been rushing, she very well could not have checked and missed the error.
“If I had been going in to work or on my lunch break or something, I think I would have whizzed on through, just clicking the next button and I don’t think I would have noticed it at all,” Shouse said.
She was particularly concerned after voting, wondering how many others faced the same issue she had, worried the race for governor would be very close.
"Even if one percent is wrong, that's one percent too many," Rankin said.
For more information, read our earlier story here.
