Some voters have said their straight-ticket ballots have switched to candidates in the opposite party, but the company that makes the machines said they don’t do that and have been used in the last nine election cycles without any problems. Several voters have complained to Texas election officials that their votes for Rep. Beto O’Rourke switched to Sen. Ted Cruz, or vice versa, on Hart InterCivic’s eSlate machine. Houston resident Mickey Blake told KTRK-TV (Channel 13) that she voted straight-ticket Democrat, but on the final review screen, she noticed all Democratic candidates were selected except for O’Rourke. Cordell Hosea of Fort Bend County told the station that the same thing happened to him. But Hart, which is based in Austin, blamed the problems on user error.
“County election officials conduct public logic and accuracy testing to ensure the voting system is programmed correctly and that it is capturing and tabulating votes accurately,” the company said in an email. “The eSlate simply records the voter’s inputs; it does not, and cannot, ‘flip’ or ‘switch’ votes.”
Hart said its machines allow voters to view their ballot on a summary page before casting so they can verify they made the intended choices. The company said voters should seek help from elections workers if they have any problems or questions.
