Vote counting software problem discovered on US election day

Problems with voting machines in the battleground state of Pennsylvania on US election day mean it may take 2-3 days for ballots to be counted.

Pennsylvania State Clerk Al Schmidt confirmed that Cambria County is now conducting a manual vote count after a software glitch caused some ballots to fail to scan at US Presidential election polling locations this morning.

According to Mr. Schmidt, the manual counting process will take some time, as it is usually done by counting teams formed from political parties, each team consisting of two people working together. The entire counting process will be allowed to be observed by candidates and authorized representatives to ensure transparency and fairness.

Voters receive their ballots at a polling station in Springfield, Pennsylvania, November 5 - Photo: CNN

A software glitch caused the ballot scanners to malfunction, leaving voters unable to scan and validate their ballots. To fix the problem, voting hours in Cambria County were extended, giving voters more time to cast their ballots.

County elections official Scott Hunt explained that the problem was due to a printing error and new ballots have been sent to polling places.

"Votes that have been cast by voters but cannot be read by scanners will be counted manually," Mr Hunt confirmed.

As of now, at least 41 counties have begun reporting preliminary results to the State Department, with about 87% of the nearly 2.2 million mail-in ballots returned.

Mr. Schmidt said that number will continue to increase because voters can send ballots by mail until 8:00 p.m. on November 5.

The Pennsylvania Secretary of State's Office expects to have an accurate count of the total number of mail ballots returned to counties by Wednesday morning, he added, but that number will not include overseas or military ballots, which are typically processed separately and can take longer to count.

Mr. Schmidt noted that the number of mail-in ballots this year is lower than in the 2020 US presidential election, but the reason is not due to low interest in the presidential race or other elections in Pennsylvania. Instead, the change reflects voters deciding to vote differently, namely by going to the polls to vote in person instead of voting by mail as in 2020.

One reason may be that many voters find voting in person at polling stations quicker and more reliable, or they want to ensure their votes are recorded immediately. Other factors may include changes in voting regulations or increased security measures during in-person elections.

In 2020, the state recorded about 2.5 million mail-in ballots, but this year the number of mail-in ballots is expected to drop significantly for the above reasons.

The incidents in Cambria County reflect changes in voter voting habits and the impact of technology issues on the election process in Pennsylvania. This shows that factors such as how people vote (in person or by mail) and technical issues are affecting how elections are conducted and the results.

As Pennsylvania prepares for a full recount (that is, the counting and auditing of all ballots), early results from the early hours of the election will help provide a clearer picture of voter participation and their level of interest in the 2024 presidential race.

In other words, the early results will provide important information about how much voters participated in the election and how competitive the race was.

Source: https://congthuong.vn/phat-hien-su-co-phan-mem-kiem-phieu-trong-ngay-bau-cu-my-357138.html