An anonymous Virginia voter has posted a YouTube video of a voting machine selecting the wrong candidate.
In the video, the voter attempts to select Rep. Scott Rigell, R-Va., but the box next to his opponent, Democrat Suzanne Patrick, is selected instead.
The YouTube user, VaBeach23451, wrote in the video’s description: “The voting machine cast a ballot for the Democrat when I was touching Republican. I notified the poll worker and he said it’s a calibration issue. Funny thing is, it did not happen on the next page with other ballots.”
Rigell’s office said that they received similar complaints and issued the following statement:
We have received numerous, credible reports of poll machine irregularity at voting precincts in Virginia’s Second Congressional District. This is very troubling. It is critical that every voter verifies the final summary page before pushing the ‘cast ballot’ option.
“Every error is going against my campaign and in favor of my challenger,” Rigell added to ABC 13.
The Virginia Republican Party wrote in a letter to the Virginia Department of Elections: “Voters have difficulty selecting the candidate of their choice using the touch screen because the screen’s touch sensor is not properly aligned with the text that appears on the screen.”
According to ABC 13, the affected machines have been replaced:
The Virginia Department of Elections now says 32 voting machines at 25 different precincts in Virginia Beach showed signs of irregularities and had to be pulled out of service. This is out of the 820 machines being used in the city for the election.
WAVY notes that it is “not against the law in Virginia to use your phone while at the polls, according to the Virginia State Board of Elections.”
According to the Huffington Post, the affected voters “were ultimately able to switch their votes back.”
