Local

Some ballot machines not registering voter's choices

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — With early voting under way, some voters have reported problems with the electronic ballot machine casting a wrong vote.

“We had a couple of incidents already in Mecklenburg County that we are looking at,” said Director of Elections Michael Dickerson.

The error could mean if a voter cast a ballot for President Barack Obama, it could default to former Gov. Mitt Romney or vice versa.

Dickerson said it could be a computer glitch.

“It could be a calibration issue,” he said. ‘That’s what I’m saying. That’s why when we get the call, that’s why we go out and recalibrate those machines.”

Dickerson said they have recalibrated the machines with reported problems and his technicians will check all machines in a precinct if necessary to ensure everyone’s ballot is cast correctly.

Voters must be alert and point out any problems to poll workers, he added.

At the Hal Marshall Annex in Uptown, voters told Eyewitness News that things went well Wednesday.

“Fortunately, I did not run into that problem” said voter Jamie Fillibe. “Everything went very smoothly and they were very helpful.”

“No, I didn’t have any trouble at all,” voter Liz Barrett said. “The process went very smoothly.”

Voters heading to the polls during the election should take a long, close look at the final screen. If it doesn’t have your choices, you can go back and make corrections.

“The nice thing about these machines is the last page review,” Dickerson said. “So, before you cast your vote, it will tell you who you voted for.”

Dickerson said if the touch screens are off, it may not register where your finger is on the screen.

“It’s no different than your Droid or your iPhone,” he said. “You click it and you thought you hit a ‘k,’ but you actually hit a ‘p’ or something like that.”

Some voters said they have waited up to two hours to cast a ballot. State election officials sent a memo to the 100 N.C. counties asking them to consider changes to alleviate the long waits.