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In reply to the discussion: I'm surprised at how little discussion there is questioning the results. [View all]lostnfound
(17,167 posts)Unintentional clerical error but the result was that when the voter selected candidate A on the screen, candidate B was coded into the bar code, which was then read as B by tabulators.
BMDs - ballot marking devices are used in 20 of PAs 67 counties. Heres a letter that explains what happened in November 2023.
https://stategovernment.pasenategop.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/141/2024/03/Skoglund_PA_Sen_Govt_Cmte_Hearing_Testimony.pdf
Northhampton County is one of 20 counties that requires all in-person voters to use BMDs. On Election Day, their BMDs printed ballots with the opposite of what some voters selected on the touchscreen
.Some polling places did not notice and kept voting. Some told voters to come back later.
To get the ballot text to match the screen, some voters were advised to select the opposite of their vote choices on the touchscreen. That is creative and understandable, but tragic. The bar code and the ballot text did not match, and the barcode was counted. The ballot text that voters could see was irrelevant. Any voters who tried to work around the problem had their votes counted against their preferences.
As an aside, hand counting ballots is not permitted, at least not by township election judges. I do not know whether the issue is security or its opposite, but publicly visible hand counting is tried and true method. https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/judge-says-pennsylvania-township-cannot-conduct-hand-count-of-ballots/
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