Taking a lunch break from canvass Thursday, two members of the Electoral Board said they weren’t happy with how things went on Election Day but still believe voting machine calibration problems and operator misunderstanding were to blame. Voters throughout the city reported Tuesday that the touch screens on the AccVote TSX machines switched their selections, requiring them to recast their votes or change machines, sometimes multiple times. Others said their machines required them to register two votes in the at-large City Council race – in which there were four candidates for two seats – when they only wanted to vote for one person.
Voters reported anomalies in at least 30 precincts, requiring the removal of three dozen voting machines. Electoral Board Chairman Al Ablowich and Secretary Tim Barrow said the touch-screen problem is not new but was more widespread this year. “It’s been an increasing problem and an increasing difficulty of being able to maintain the calibration on these machines,” Barrow said.
Full Article: Calibration problems blamed in Va. Beach vote | HamptonRoads.com | PilotOnline.com.