Some Texas Voters Have Been Reporting Errors with Voting Machines. Machines Causing Issue Are Not in Use in Hopkins County.

PublishedOctober 30, 2018

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There have recently been reports of voting machines changing the selections of some straight-ticket voters in early voting for the midterm election. The Texas Tribune and others are reporting user error is causing votes to be switched on voting machines in 82 Texas Counties. Hopkins County does not use the voting machines that are in question. Hopkins County upgraded their voting machines in early 2018. The machine causing issues is the Hart eSlate. Hopkins County uses the Hart Verity voting system.

Some voters have reported issues in their counties but the State of Texas says the problem is being caused by the voters and is not a problem with the machine or software. The problems reported are the result of “voters hitting a button or using the selection wheel before the screen is finished rendering,” which de-selects the pre-filled candidate selection.

The machine experiencing the issue, The Hart eSlate, is in use in Hunt, Delta, and Wood Counties according to the Secretary of State website. According to the secretary of state’s office, Hart eSlate voting machines have an “enter” button and a selection wheel to help voters select their choice candidate. The office advises voters to use one button at a time and to not hit the “enter” button or use the selection wheel until the page is fully rendered.

You can read the full Tribune article here: https://www.texastribune.org/2018/10/26/texas-voting-machines-2018-straight-ticket-midterm-elections/?utm_campaign=trib-social&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&utm_content=771480729

And you can check to see if your county uses the Hart eSlate machine here:

https://www.sos.state.tx.us/elections/forms/sysexam/voting-sys-bycounty.pdf

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