Northampton County was experiencing issues with the Express Vote XL voting machine in the races being decided today. The problem is limited to the retention election in the appellate court races. Those voting Yes were seeing a ballot that indicates No, and vice versa. As a result, voters were being provided with emergency paper ballots until the problem could be corrected.
The Express Vote XL goes through a process called L&A (logic and accuracy) testing prior to the election, but this coding error was missed by elections officials.
It is unclear to me how to correct this L&A error for those voters who decided to cast their ballot knowing that their Yes would come up No and vice versa. Those votes could be reversed, but how does anyone really know what the voter really intended?
According to Executive Lamont McClure stressed that this problem was limited to the appellate court races and had no impact on any local races or referendum questions.
Needless to say, results in Northampton County will be delayed.
Below is a news release from Northampton County:
"Northampton County Elections Office reports an issue with the recording of votes only for the races for retention to the Pennsylvania Superior Court, affecting Judge Jack Panella and Judge Victor P. Stabile."
"It appears that when a voter selects a "Yes" or a "No" for one of the candidates for retention to the Pennsylvania Superior Court, the selection is recorded on the paper ballot and on the machine for the other candidate.
"The issue is limited to the retention of Superior Court Judges, and is only an issue when recording the votes for when a voter selected a "Yes" for one candidate and a "No" for another candidate.
"The Elections Division of the County of Northampton notified all poll workers by text message that they are to instruct voters before the voter enters the voting booth that there is an issue with the recording of their vote for the candidates for retention to the Pennsylvania Superior Court, that the paper receipt will record their selection for retention to the Pennsylvania Superior Court one candidate to the other candidate."
Update at 12:08 pm: Voter in Lower Saucon describes his experience: "Voted, but it was a mess. The county really needs to do a better job, the machines at SeWyCo don't work this morning, so I was handed a provisional ballot, no privacy of the polling booth, you had to sit in the middle of the hall and fill out your ballot in front of everybody and walk through to hand it over to an election worker who would just put it in a pile. The worst feeling about the security and privacy in my 22 years of voting. Then people ask why the public doesn't have trust in elections."
2:15 pm Update: I visited Nazareth's three precincts. Turnout appeared to be light. Two of the three precincts were manned by Democratic greeters. There were no GOP greeters. I spoke to a voter who proudly told me he voted straight Republican, except for Panella because he votes for Italians.
I heard from a voter in Easton who tells me that the switch in retention votes is still happening.
3:15 pm Update: A news conference with the Express Vote XL manufacturer is scheduled.
24 comments:
It wasn't simply switching "yes" and "no." At my precinct the machine reversed the retention vote for Judge Panella and Judge Stabile. I voted "no" for the first and "no response" for the second, and it reversed so that my vote was "no response" for the first and "no" for the second.
This raises a legitimate concern: if different people are experiencing different glitches, how can voters be confident that the glitch was limited to one particular candidate/issue? Even if there is a legitimate technical answer, voter confidence in the integrity of the system is once again shaken.
So we have used these high tech voting machines for several years. Remember 2019, where the touchscreen was mis-calibrated and when party line votes incorrectly selected Common Pleas judge candidates? And now this? What is the positive trade off? Where are the quicker voting tabulations? The cost savings? What are we getting out of technology besides headaches and undermining of voter confidence? Why not admit defeat and return to paper ballots?
I voted and was warned that the questions on the end about the county were switching as well, it did not happen to me, also one of the iPad was not working correctly one said I was not located to vote here while the other one work fine. Major issues county dropping the ball.
Hearings are underway about the machine problems. This is according to Lehigh Valley News.
https://www.lehighvalleynews.com/elections/election-2023-widespread-voting-machine-problems-reported-in-northampton-county?utm_source=piano&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=update-news-nl&pnespid=rug9FD0eO.xK3fbLoCvvF8KMuQvzDZx_IfrknbI3o0FmfztORyKsbESeh8V9khSmvK3YsewM5A
NorCo used to have the best elections in the state just a few years ago. It didn't take long for the wheels to come off. Thanks Lamont. The county has a few, but very important responsibilities. Elections are one of them and this is a mess.
It’s fair and square a first class operation …….if you’re a democrat lol.
Yes all these problems started happening within the last couple years, I guess that's what happens when you Defund an important position in elections!
We can send men to the moon but can't make a voting machine that works. Northampton county judge selection the machine prints opposite for the first two judges than what you voted for. I was told the machine knows the right vote and just make them aware if we see other incorrect printed vote. Unbelievable. And we are supposed to say there is no problem with voting machines.
I think it's time to go back to hand completed paper ballots in this county.
Well defend your boy McClure. He pushed out the real election officials and got Casino guy to run things under the watchful eye of Chucky. of course, he will do his lawyer thing and say everything is under control. People don't trust government now, and he makes it worse. All the results in the county must be checked. Bring in an outside auditing firm since this crew is suspect. Maybe Barron the self-proclaimed expert on everything can help.
McClueless and his clowns need to go! They didn't listen to the Election Committee on what machine to get. Continued errors. No confidence in the running of NC.
Bernie, I heard there was a hearing attended by about 7-8 attorneys and Judge Sletvold in front of Judge Kassis. Apparently, most of the attorneys (Dems and Reps) thought the county should extend voting to 9 p.m. because some precincts ran out of paper ballots this morning and turned voters away for a time period. But Sletvold was not having any of it and threatened to file an appeal if Kassis extended the time. Sletvold was worried since most polls in Northampton County had a vote no on retention for Sletvold sign.
Good thing we have a neutral judge prepared to handle any issue. Oh wait, we don’t. Judge Sletvold remains, for no rational reason, in motions court.
I voted at Forks site around 1 pm and what was explained to me was the printed ballot "might show incorrect vote from what you voted on printed ballot but that this would record correctly" as he patted the top of the machine. What the hell? Bullshit. I was so annoyed, and I don't know what or who will show as my vote. I want to see on paper now who and what was recorded for my vote.
Nothing to see here. McClure and Dertinger say so. It only happened twice in five years but nothing to see. Of course, the McClure democrats will sweep all the county elections but nothing to see so just move along. All is well. Bernie will confirm that McClure, the teller of all truth, is right. How dare the mean republicans say otherwise.
When I voted, they said it was a printing error but was recording how we actually vote.... I voted Yes for Panella, it printed No. I left Stabile blank, because I was unfamiliar with him and didn't know if he was normal or a Mastriano type, so I left it blank, but the print out said Yes. There is also a slight sensitivity to the screen. I voted for one person, but the opponent actually lit up, and I had to change it.
I do recall when the County was looking at machines, at least one person on the Commission recommended against the XL, but the "powers that be" wanted the XL for whatever reason. In fairness, perhaps this was actually human error, but is the fodder for crazy conspiracy theories that undermine our democracy if "our person" doesn't win. I am not looking forward to next year.
Anyone that challenges or questions the election results should be jailed.
Early voting + election day "problems" = it's working as designed. Nothing to see here. Democrats are just better at this.
Northampton county could mess up a wet dream. Seriously. Everything they touch turns to shit.
It will all be fine! He will show up with his over sized check offering some entity money (really “pass through monies”), snap a picture for FB and it’ll all be forgiven! Nothing to see here..
What is worse:
Knowing there’s a problem with the machines in Northampton County (and making an attempt to fix the problem) or not getting any verification (either by a paper receipt or on-screen) as to how your choices are being read by the machine when you run your ballot through the scanner in Lehigh County?
I’d prefer knowing that my choices are being recorded as I intended, or even wrongly recorded (but correctable) than putting blind faith in the system that exists in Lehigh County. For all I know, none of my votes were recorded, and I’ll never know it.
As today shows, errors and mistakes do happen with voting machines, so why are Lehigh County voters being denied the most basic and important level of transparency?
I'm sorry it's 2 key positions that aren't there anymore
Remember when judge Kassis ran a few years back and the machines were not registering the votes. Northampton county should
Get an award for purchasing all the useless computer software and voting machines purchased over the years. You can’t hire people off the street to program voting machines. This is the voter registrations employee error. Don’t send the machines out to the voting precincts without them fully tested. Next election whether the machines work or not, vote McClure out.
I had one. Changed my retention vote. What the heck? How desperate is Jack Panella?
Bethlehem ward 14-2 ran out of paper ballots, voters were told to "come back later" there was no record taken of how many voters were turned away, hence no way to know if they returned. This is the largest voting poll in the city. How can County officials declare this was a clerical error, this was a cluster $#&@!
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