Va. voting machine switches votes from Republican to Democrat

A video posted to YouTube Tuesday appears to show a voting machine that changed a vote for a Republican candidate to a vote for a Democratic one.

The video, taken in Virginia’s 2nd Congressional District which covers the coastal areas, shows a voter repeatedly trying to mark a vote for incumbent Edward Scott Rigell, the Republican candidate.

But every time the voter touches Mr. Rigell’s name, the Democratic candidate’s name — Suzanne Patrick — is marked instead.

The Washington Times could not independently validate the authenticity of the video, though similar problems with touchscreen devices like the voting machine have been reported in the past.

The Virginia Department of Elections could not be reached for comment Tuesday evening.

Virginia voter Chris Ball, who shot the video, told The Washington Times he recorded the video at 7:30 a.m. when he voted in Virginia Beach.

“I reached out to the poll worker when I first noticed it before I shot the video and asked if he thought it was suspicious,” Mr. Ball said, adding that the worker told him it was a “calibration issue” meaning the machine was likely detecting the finger being pressed below where it actually was.

“Every time I kept hitting on top of the box it kept going to the Democrat. Finally I got the box I wanted,” Mr. Ball said.

He said he had no problems on the next page while voting for city council.

Jim Martin, Chairman of the 60 Plus Association — a conservative group that advocates for senior rights — said he wants election officials to take the problems with the voting machines seriously.

“We know many of these elections will be razor close,” Mr. Martin said. “We can’t have a situation where voters lose faith in the basic integrity of the ballot they cast.”

“Hopefully these machines weren’t designed by the people who did the Obamacare website or we’re all in big trouble,” he added.