Can electronic voting machines change your vote? Here’s what experts say

Brynn Anderson/AP/FILE

The videos that pop up on social media appear alarming: A voter seemingly touches one candidate’s name, only to see the machine highlight an opposing candidate instead.

With early voting underway, there have been a scattering of reports across the country already about voting machines “flipping votes” to the wrong candidate. From Tennessee to Texas to Florida, videos and social media posts have raised concerns that the machines are attempting to invalidate their vote.

In some cases, such videos have gone viral but are actually years old.

Election officials and experts say it’s an issue that arises nearly every election cycle . But there’s no evidence of anything nefarious behind the problem, they say. Instead, it’s typically a result of a voter’s stray touch or a long fingernail causing the machine to register the wrong selection. In some cases, there are problems with the voting machine’s calibration that have to be adjusted.

It’s also a frequent issue, election experts say, because many voting machines in this country contain technology that predates the invention of the iPhone nearly two decades ago — meaning the machine’s touchscreen is more susceptible to calibration issues and won’t function as well as the one on your phone or in your car.

“It’s one of those things though that people have a visceral reaction to it. And it’s good that people are paying attention and that voters are noticing,” said Tammy Patrick, chief program officer for the National Association of Election Officials.

“The good news is that in all of these cases, everyone has a paper ballot that they can check and make sure,” added Patrick.

Carolyn Kaster/AP/FILE

Stephen Richer, the former top election official in Arizona’s Maricopa County, said that over the past two decades states have added requirements for post-election, hand-count audits, as well as rigorous testing of machines before and after elections, to ensure that everything is functioning properly.

Election officials stressed the importance of voters checking their selections before submitting their ballots. They said there are several steps to make sure that voters cast their ballots correctly — federal law requires voters have the chance to review their selections, and nearly every jurisdiction provides voters a paper copy to review before their vote is submitted.

Jerry Holland, the director of elections in Duval County, Florida, told CNN he has fielded five or six calls out of 30,000 people who have used his county’s voting machines over the past several days.

“The machine is not flipping,” Holland said. “If you’re hitting one [name], your nail, or part of your finger could easily touch the selection above.”

In Duval County, which includes Jacksonville, voters can choose between filling out a paper ballot or using a voting machine that generates a paper ballot to be tabulated. Holland said that every voting machine has a stylus that can be used to more precisely touch the screen.

“We have full confidence that what voters are voting are the selections they truly want,” Holland added.

In Texas, another state where vote-flipping concerns have been raised , the issues are often tied to screen calibration problems of older machines, said Kristin Miles, President of the Texas Association of County Election Officials and an elections administrator in Bastrop County.

“Every election cycle, we hear a handful of reports of so-called ‘vote-switching’ on voting machines in Texas,” Miles said in a statement. “Statewide and local officials have both repeatedly affirmed that nearly every case comes back to the screen calibration on older touchscreen machines, not a change to anyone’s vote.”

County election officials “proactively re-calibrate screens and rigorously test every machine before and after each election,” she said.

Stella Parton, the sister of the late Dolly Parton, posted on Facebook this week about her issues using a voting machine in Nashville, Tennessee, where the machine was incorrectly selecting GOP gubernatorial candidate Sen. Marsha Blackburn.

Parton told CNN she had to get help from a poll worker on her third try to make her selection for governor before it finally registered correctly.

“When I saw other people having the same issue, it upset me. I thought you know what, go ahead and post about your own experience, because people need to know about this before they get there on voting day,” Parton said.

In response to claims from Parton and other voters in the state, Mark Goins, Tennessee’s coordinator of elections, told Nashville’s WSMV that the issue was almost assuredly an “unintended touch.”

“In all the situations, since I’ve been here, that’s exactly what’s occurred. It’s been a scenario where, like an unintended consequence, they may not even know it,” Goins said, adding that Davidson County’s machines give voters a printed ballot, which is one of several checks to ensure voters’ selections are correct.

Like the stylus pens used in Florida, Goins said that Davidson County has handed out coffee stirrers to help voters make more precise selections on the voting machines.

Election Systems & Software, the country’s largest election equipment manufacturer, said that voting machines are tested thoroughly before every election to ensure accuracy.

“There is no scenario in which a voter would be forced to cast a ballot that they believe did not reflect their intentions,” said ES&S spokesperson Katina Granger. “ES&S systems are designed with multiple safeguards to ensure voter intent is accurately captured, including voter review of selections, a voter-verifiable paper record, and post-election audits that compare results to the paper ballots.”

Patrick said that while the machines are rigorously tested before elections, calibration issues can still arise, especially with the older technology that can get jostled while being delivered to polling places. When the issue repeatedly arises in a voting machine at a polling place, she said poll workers typically will take that machine out of service so it can be addressed.

“It’s not something that has anything to do with the program of the election and the candidates. It’s the way the screen itself is calibrated,” Patrick said.

The issue is a good reminder that county election offices are frequently underfunded by county and state governments and as a result can’t update old voting equipment, Patrick argued.

“That’s why we need to make sure we sufficiently fund our elections,” she said, “and not just think about it every four years as something that we should invest in.”

布林·安德森/美联社/档案照片

社交媒体上出现的视频看起来令人担忧：一名选民似乎点击了一位候选人的名字，但机器却高亮显示了另一位候选人的名字。

随着提前投票的进行，全国各地已经零星出现关于投票机“篡改选票”的报道，称选票投给了错误的候选人。从田纳西州到德克萨斯州再到佛罗里达州，视频和社交媒体帖子都引发了人们的担忧，认为这些机器试图使他们的选票无效。

有些视频在网上疯传，但实际上这些视频已经存在好几年了。

选举官员和专家表示，这个问题几乎每次选举都会出现。但他们也表示，没有证据表明这个问题背后有任何阴谋。通常情况下，这是由于选民的无意触碰或过长的指甲导致机器记录了错误的选项。在某些情况下，投票机的校准也存在问题，需要进行调整。

选举专家表示，这也是一个常见问题，因为该国许多投票机采用的技术早于近二十年前iPhone的发明——这意味着机器的触摸屏更容易出现校准问题，并且不如你手机或汽车上的触摸屏好用。

“但这件事确实会引起人们的强烈反应。人们关注此事，选民们注意到此事，这是一件好事，”全国选举官员协会首席项目官塔米·帕特里克说道。

帕特里克补充说：“好消息是，在所有这些情况下，每个人都有一张纸质选票，可以进行核对和确认。”

卡罗琳·卡斯特/美联社/档案照片

亚利桑那州马里科帕县前首席选举官员斯蒂芬·里彻表示，在过去的二十年里，各州增加了选举后人工计票审计的要求，以及在选举前后对机器进行严格测试的要求，以确保一切正常运转。

选举官员强调选民在提交选票前核对选择的重要性。他们表示，有多项措施可以确保选民正确投票——联邦法律要求选民有机会复核自己的选择，而且几乎所有选区都会向选民提供纸质选票副本，供其在提交选票前进行核对。

佛罗里达州杜瓦尔县选举主任杰里·霍兰德告诉 CNN，在过去几天里，该县有 3 万名选民使用了投票机，他只接到了五六个电话。

“机器不会翻转，”霍兰德说。“如果你点击其中一个[名字]，你的指甲或手指很容易碰到上面的选择。”

在包括杰克逊维尔在内的杜瓦尔县，选民可以选择填写纸质选票，也可以使用投票机生成纸质选票进行计票。霍兰德表示，每台投票机都配有触控笔，方便选民更精确地触摸屏幕。

“我们完全相信选民们投票选出的是他们真正想要的，”霍兰德补充道。

德克萨斯州是另一个引发选票篡改担忧的州，德克萨斯州县选举官员协会主席、巴斯特罗普县选举管理员克里斯汀·迈尔斯表示，这些问题通常与旧机器的屏幕校准问题有关。

“每逢选举周期，我们都会听到一些关于德克萨斯州投票机所谓‘换票’的报道，”迈尔斯在一份声明中说。“州和地方官员都反复确认，几乎所有案例都源于老式触摸屏投票机的屏幕校准问题，而不是任何人的投票被篡改。”

她说：“县选举官员会在每次选举前后主动重新校准屏幕，并对每台机器进行严格测试。”

已故乡村音乐天后多莉·帕顿的妹妹斯特拉·帕顿本周在 Facebook 上发帖讲述了她在田纳西州纳什维尔使用投票机时遇到的问题，当时投票机错误地选择了共和党州长候选人玛莎·布莱克本参议员。

帕顿告诉 CNN，她第三次尝试投票时，不得不向一名投票站工作人员寻求帮助，才最终正确识别出她选择的州长候选人。

“当我看到其他人也遇到同样的问题时，我感到很沮丧。我想，不如把自己的经历也分享出来，因为人们需要在投票日之前了解这些情况，”帕顿说道。

针对帕顿和该州其他选民的说法，田纳西州选举协调员马克·戈因斯告诉纳什维尔的 WSMV 电视台，这个问题几乎可以肯定是一个“无意的触碰”。

“自从我来到这里以来，所有情况下都是如此。这是一种意想不到的后果，他们可能甚至都不知道，”戈因斯说，并补充道，戴维森县的机器会给选民打印选票，这是确保选民选择正确的几项检查措施之一。

戈因斯说，就像佛罗里达州使用的触控笔一样，戴维森县也发放了咖啡搅拌棒，以帮助选民在投票机上做出更精确的选择。

该国最大的选举设备制造商选举系统与软件公司表示，每次选举前都会对投票机进行彻底测试，以确保准确性。

ES&S发言人卡蒂娜·格兰杰表示：“没有任何情况下，选民会被迫投出他们认为不符合自己意愿的选票。ES&S系统设计有多重保障措施，以确保准确记录选民的意愿，包括选民对选择的审查、选民可核实的纸质记录，以及将选举结果与纸质选票进行比对的选后审计。”

帕特里克表示，虽然所有机器在选举前都经过严格测试，但校准问题仍然可能出现，尤其是一些老旧型号的机器，在运送到投票站的过程中容易受到颠簸。她说，如果某个投票站的投票机反复出现问题，工作人员通常会将该机器暂停使用，以便进行维修。

帕特里克说：“这与选举程序和候选人无关，而是屏幕本身的校准方式的问题。”

帕特里克认为，这个问题很好地提醒人们，县选举办公室经常得不到县政府和州政府的充分资助，因此无法更新老旧的投票设备。

“这就是为什么我们需要确保为选举提供充足的资金，”她说，“而不仅仅把它当作每四年一次应该投资的事情。”