The York County voting machine programming error that allowed voters to vote twice in some races for the same candidate on Tuesday — once on the Republican ballot and once on the Democratic ballot — has left some office seekers in limbo. The county election board is to meet next week on that matter, and at this time it’s not clear what options the county may have to resolve the issue. The problem was limited to certain races where candidates cross-filed and appeared on both ballots, including the four-candidate judicial race for the York County Court of Common Pleas. The error did not affect the race for York mayor. Although the county is looking to the Pennsylvania Department of State for legal guidance, county spokesman Mark Walters said Wednesday that the problem is the county’s, and the county’s alone. The Department of State, which oversees state level elections, “doesn’t have a lot of authority over county elections,” a state department spokesman said. It is each county’s responsibility to purchase, program and test voting machines.
Here, Walters said, “this problem occurred because the machines were not programmed properly. It was the fault of our elections staff.”
Walters explained that when the voting machines — electronic touch-screen machines — are properly programmed, they will not allow a vote to be cast for the same candidate on different tickets.
If an elector voted for Candidate A on the Democratic ticket, the program should remove that candidate’s name from the Republican ticket, removing the option to vote twice for the same candidate.
Full Article: Voting machine problems: What are York County’s options?.