Double Take: Touch screen voting casts doubt with some voters

 At least two voters in Lenoir County have experienced difficulties voting in the past week, and they believe the machines are at fault.

Ervin Norville, a registered Democrat, said he was trying to vote for a straight party Republican ticket Tuesday Oct. 19, at the McLewean Street polling place. He said when he reviewed his ballot, several Democratic candidates were selected.

“Something just told me to check,” Norville said.

Norville said he corrected the mistake and didn’t say anything about it until he saw a report about voting machine error in Craven County.

 “I don’t usually check behind myself but I did it this time. There were three (candidates) on there that weren’t voted like I punched it in, so I went back and corrected it,” Norville said. “I didn’t think anything of it until I saw it on TV and said ‘That’s what happened when I voted.’ ”

On Tuesday, Gary Jones had a similar situation at the one-stop voting location at the former Fitness by William near Skinner’s Bypass.

Jones — a former high school government teacher at South Lenoir — said he used three machines before finally being able to get his ballot correct.

“I voted and I decided to do something I don’t normally do and I reviewed my vote, and four of them were not what I pressed. It was not doing right,” Jones said. “I called the ladies over and they called the county office and went to another machine. Finally, I got it on the right one and I voted.”

Jones said he was not voting a straight party ticket but noticed three races that were voted opposite of what he had pressed. He added the woman next to him also had some trouble voting.

 “They say it hasn’t happened before [in Lenoir County] but it’s happened all across North Carolina,” Jones said.

Pat Smalls, election judge at the former Fitness by William, said Tuesday morning’s incident was the first she had experienced.

Both Norville and Jones told Clerk of Court candidate Dawn Stroud about the potential problem. She informed the Board of Election of what she was told.

“Of my own personal knowledge, I haven’t seen it. This is just what these two individuals have relayed to me,” Stroud said.

She added she voted at the same location as Jones and did not experience any problems.

“I just want everything to be done fair and the way it’s supposed to be,” Stroud said. “I would just like everyone to know that they’ve got to review their ballot to make sure (of their selection).”

Dana King, director of the Lenoir County Board of Elections, said she has heard of two voters — including Jones —that had trouble, but has not been able to replicate any malfunctions on the voting machines.

“The only thing we’ve heard is voters saying it’s done this or it’s done that,” King said. “We’ve been out (to the former Fitness by William polling location) — and our board chairman (Bobby Waller) even voted out there (on the same machine as Jones) — and we can’t get the machines to do what they say they will do.”

King attributes the inconsistencies most likely to human error.

“These machines are nothing but a computer – you’ve got to put your mouse right on what you are clicking to catch it,” King said. “You have to put your finger right on the square you want to mash.

“You can’t just put your whole finger up there and expect it to pick that person, because it may try to pick two or three and it’s going to choose the first one on the list.”

J. Mac Daughety — a registered Republican running as an unaffiliated candidate for the County Commissioner seat in District 1 — believes the potential for voter fraud is a huge concern.

 “We’re aghast at what is happening; we are kind of shocked and stunned,” Daughety said. “After all the problems that have been documented at the national and state level, that this can be happening in our county right now. … You have to think by this time people could at least figure out how to get the most important right to a citizen in this country recorded properly.

Daughety continued, “Our recourse right now is to take our issue to the press because we don’t seem to be getting response from the board of elections that we think is credible. We’re not getting an interest to explore this issue, we’re probably going to report it to the North Carolina Republican Party and then we’ll consider any and all other actions of recourse.”

Kathy Riggs, Lenoir County Republican Chairwoman said the party was still investigating the claims and contended the party would be watching the results before deciding a potential course of action.

“It’s seemed like the problem is with people trying to vote for Republican candidates or someone that is unaffiliated … it has changed the vote to Democrat,” Riggs said. “If the machine malfunctions and changes the vote, the concern is what vote does it record.”

With recent allegations of voting machine malfunction the state has required each county to calibrate the machines each morning. In addition to calibration, King said she was required to test each machine at least five times before they were sent to the polling places for early voting.

According to King, there are approximately 145 iVotronic machines being used throughout the county — the same machines used in Craven County elections.

“I programmed them myself, and I haven’t seen any of these issues. It’s all in learning the voting equipment,” King said. “I’ve had no problem doing that— all my ballots have matched up fine.”

She added it voters are given two or three opportunities to check their ballots.

“You can’t look at a ballot without looking at a review page,” King said. “After you vote your ballot, it comes to review before you ever get to the red button to hit ‘vote this ballot.’ ”

Although confident in the technology being used, King has announced that the Board of Elections would be setting up three iVotronic machines for citizens to test on Thursday from 2 to 4 p.m. at the Board of Elections office. She hopes this will help ease voter apprehension and decrease the potential for human error.

Whether human or machine error, a common sentiment shared by all is the importance of reviewing ballots before pressing vote.

“You need to go back and check,” Norville said. “I don’t normally, but for some reason I did this time.”

Lenoir County Democrat chairwoman Deborah Johnson could not be reached for comment.

Justin Hill can be reached at 252-559-1078 or jhill@freedomenc.com.