The state Board of Elections has authorized additional voting machines to relieve delays at precincts Tuesday, according to Secretary of State Nellie M. Gorbea. Each polling place began the day with one scanner machine for voters to feed their ballots into, Gorbea said. But high turnout in some precincts, combined with two-page ballots, caused lines to form, Gorbea said. Sometimes those lines stretched two hours or more, according to reports that The Providence Journal received from voters. The two-page ballots were problematic, Gorbea said, because the machines scan a picture of each ballot and then save encrypted images as a ballot security measure. This is the first general election with the state’s new ballot scanners. The old machines didn’t encrypt scanned ballot images into computer memory, she said. The Board of Elections authorized a second ballot machine for each polling place, as needed, Gorbea said.
John Marion, executive director of Common Cause, R.I., described the voting issues in Rhode Island as significant but not widespread.
“There were significant problems in a handful of polling places where there was a high turnout,” he said. “By no means was it a majority of places.”
Common Cause had observers stationed at a number of polling locations. Marion said scanners malfunctioned in several places, including a location in Warren, the Schneider Arena in Providence and the Providence Water Supply Board.
Full Article: Extra voting machines sent to some R.I. precincts.