Multiple polling stations in Connecticut reported broken voting machines whereby voters were asked to place their ballots in an “auxiliary bin” to be counted at the end of the day.
NBC Connecticut reported “a rocky start to Election Day” in the state as ballot machines were found to be broken at the opening of the polls in some precincts.
In New Britain, the registrar of voters confirmed a machine broke down at the time the first ballot was cast at the Smalley Academy polling place.
“Paper ballots were being taken when polls opened at 6 a.m,” the report noted. “The votes will be counted manually at the end of the day. Technicians were working to get the machine repaired.”
In Glastonbury, registrar Lisbeth Becker reported a voting machine down at the Nayaug School polling place.
“Voting went on and the ballots were placed in the auxiliary bin,” NBC Connecticut reported, adding, “It is standard practice to have ballots placed in an auxiliary bin to be counted at the end of the day if a ballot machine goes down.”
The report, however, provided no information about whether ballot counters were watched to ensure integrity of the vote count.
NBC Connecticut also reported some voters in Hartford could not get their vote cast Tuesday because of a broken voting machine.
“The moderator at the E.B. Kenelly School said the vote tabulator machine never worked this morning and he’s been waiting for a fix for hours,” the report noted, adding:
Since the machine is not scanning ballots, voters are pushing their auxiliary votes into the bin to be counted later. Turnout at the school has been so strong, the moderator has had to open the bin up and manually push ballots down to make room for more.
Again, the report contained no information about how the manual counting of ballots was supervised to ensure voter integrity.
While some cities and towns have “backup tabulator machines” at their voting precincts, Hartford, the capital city of the state, “does not,” observed the report.
“One of the Registrars at City Hall said all of the tabulator machines were serviced before the primaries,” NBC Connecticut noted.
The registrar added poll workers have the job of removing and securing the ballots “filling up in the bin if it becomes too full.”
Every vote is then counted by machine or by hand, she reportedly added.
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Susan Berry, PhD, is national education editor at The Star News Network. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Voting Machines” by OSCE Parliamentary Assembly. CC BY-SA 2.0.
