County leaders are shutting down rumors that a voter had their choice for president switched by a voting machine. NBC 5’s Alanna Quillen tells us more.
Early Voting — What to Know
- Election Day Voter Guide: Find key dates, how to check your voter status, how to find out where and when you can vote early and on Election Day, and what you'll need to bring with you to the polls.
- When is Election Day? Tuesday, Nov. 5, is Election Day. On that day, polls will be open in Texas from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m. You'll be allowed to vote if you're in line by 7 p.m. on Election Day.
- Where can I vote early? Early voting runs from Monday, Oct. 21, through Friday, Nov. 1. Click here for early voting hours and locations for Collin, Dallas, Denton and Tarrant counties.
- How many people have voted early? A record number of people voted early on Monday, the first day of early voting. Click here to see daily early voting totals from Collin, Dallas, Denton and Tarrant counties and to compare them to previous years.
- Who is on the ballot? Click the links to filter races by category or county: Federal races | State races | Collin County | Dallas County | Denton County | Tarrant County
- How can I vote by mail? The deadline is coming up. Everything you need to know is here.
Tarrant County officials are clearing up controversy on day two of early voting.
One voter said a voting machine switched his choice for president, but county leaders said there was no evidence of that.
On Tuesday, videos shared on social media showed a man claiming that when he voted in White Settlement, his printed ballot indicated a different choice for the presidential candidate than the one he made on the machine.
Get top local stories in DFW delivered to you every morning. Sign up for NBC DFW's News Headlines newsletter.
Some users spread the video along with concerns about "switching votes in Tarrant County."
"There is no indication. There is zero evidence that that has occurred," said Alisa Simmons, Tarrant County Commissioner for Precinct 2.
Elections Administrator Clint Ludwig posted a social media message on X on Tuesday evening, saying the machine printed out the voter's selection.
"We have one individual who's claimed that the vote that they selected on the machine was not the vote that was printed on the printed ballot. What we believe to have occurred is that the individual did make a selection on the machine and that selection was printed on their ballot. When they went to cast their ballot they checked it and realized that was not the vote that they wanted," Ludwig said.
TARRANT COUNTY
He said it's not uncommon to see that, and there's a practice called "spoiling the ballot" in place for those instances, which happened in this case.
Tarrant County Judge Tim O'Hare explained that the elections staff invalidated the original ballot.
"[He] went through, did it again, re-voted, essentially printed it off and it was what he wanted it to be. And then he cast his ballot," O'Hare said in an interview with NBC 5.
O'Hare echoed the message from the county's elections office issued earlier in the day, encouraging voters "to confirm their selections on the physical paper ballot before placing it into the scanner to be counted."
The elections office added that the county "has no reason to believe that votes are being switched by the voting system."
“Message number one is get out and vote. Message number two is make sure you’re careful when you’re pressing your choices. Make sure you review it. Make sure when you print it, you thoroughly review it when you cast it. I believe people should have confidence that votes are not being switched," O'Hare said.
"They did some fairly rigorous testing. Again, out of 58,000 votes cast, this is the only person who's come forward and made such a claim," O'Hare added.
The Elections Office also said it caught a labeling error on the printed paper ballot for "Presiding judge, court of criminal appeals," labeled as "Railroad commissioner."
The office said that mistake won't affect the results of either race.
It said both issues have been reported to the Texas Secretary of State's office.
County leaders told NBC 5 that Tarrant County has added multiple new election security measures for 2024, including enhanced training for election staffers and serialized paper ballots. They said in addressing the White Settlement voter's concern, the process worked as it was meant to.
"There is excitement about this election and people are engaged, and that’s what we want them to be," said Simmons.
