brennan center for justice

November2008October 2008ES&SiVotronicES&SiVotronicWest VirginiaWest Virginiaofficials managed to get the votes uploaded andtallied. 502Marion County, WVAccording to local television station WHSV, “[t]hemachines that scan the ballots quit tabulating votesaround 7:30 p.m. when clerks tried to feed in theresults of early voting. [County CommissionerWayne] Stutler says that caused a glitch in thesoftware and stopped all vote-counting.” The cause ofthe problem was unclear. 503Jackson, Putnam, Ohio, Monongalia, andGreenbrier Counties, WVOctober 2008October 2008ES&SModel 650ES&SiVotronicWest VirginiaWest VirginiaAccording to the Charleston Gazette, at least 14 votersfrom these counties reported that the electronicvoting machines switched their votes fromDemocratic to Republican candidates. In each case,election officials helped the voters to correct theballots. 504Berkeley County, WVThe Charleston Gazette reported that in BerkeleyCounty some voters experienced problems⎯theirvotes for Obama repeatedly to votes for McCain. Inresponse to voter complaints, the WV Secretary ofState advised county clerks to recalibrate machines ifnecessary. 505Ohio County: WVAccording to the Wheeling News Register, a touchscreenvoting machines flipped a voter’s ballot. Thevoter tried multiple times to cast her vote but keptrunning into the vote- flipping problem. She was,however, eventually able to cast her vote for hercandidate of choice. The paper noted that similarincidents had been reported in at least two otherWest Virginia counties as well.West Virginia Secretary of State Betty Irelandidentified calibration problems as the likely culprit,saying that the machines can become miscalibratedwhen jostled, but she also stated that touching near,but not directly on, a candidate’s name “confuses themachine.” Ireland ordered Ohio county to recalibratethe machines in use during early voting; according tothe News Register, other counties in the state also tookthis precaution. 50694 | Brennan Center for Justice