Bexar County voters have continued to contact KSAT with concerns about touchscreen voting machines, ballot scanners and wait times during early voting.
Some voters told KSAT they had to make selections more than once before they appeared correctly on screen. Others said they noticed a selection they did not intend to make while reviewing their ballot. A smaller number of messages described scanner problems or uncertainty about the handling of paper ballots when a scanner was unavailable.
KSAT has not independently verified every viewer report.
Christine Welde, co-chair of the Bexar County Democratic Party’s Election Integrity and Voter Protection Committee, said her group has received similar reports. Welde, who also said she has worked as a Bexar County poll worker, said she experienced a touchscreen issue while voting at Cornerstone Church.
“I can tell you my personal experience. I voted at Cornerstone Church. I selected up to five times, one, two, three, four, five, finally got it to register and then it registered, not the candidate that I intended to select,” Welde said.
Welde said she has not seen evidence that voting machines are intentionally changing votes. She said touchscreen sensitivity or calibration could be a possible explanation, but she believes election officials should clearly communicate what they find.
Kris Coons, chair of the Bexar County Republican Party, told KSAT her party has not received calls from voters reporting that they selected one candidate and saw another candidate selected on screen.
“I’m not hearing that right now from really, I haven’t, I’ve received no phone calls about that happening at all up in the Republican party about that,” Coons said. “They pushed a button and apparently that’s not what they meant to push, you know.”
Coons said voters who believe there is a problem should stop before submitting their ballot and immediately ask an election judge for help.
“If there is a concern, if there is a problem, just stop what you’re doing,” Coons said. “Call over the election judge and let them know what happened.”
The Bexar County Elections Department said it is aware of concerns suggesting voting machines are “switching” selections and is communicating with the voting-machine manufacturer to determine whether any action is needed.
In a statement, Elections Administrator Michele Carew said reports of mismatched selections are “almost always” related to touchscreen sensitivity, rather than machine malfunction.
The department is asking voters to confirm each selection before moving to the next screen, review all selections before printing a ballot and verify the printed paper ballot before casting it.
“If a printed ballot appears not to match a voter’s intended choices, the voter should notify a poll worker immediately — before casting the ballot — so the issue can be resolved,” Carew said in the statement.
The county said state law does not provide recourse once a ballot is cast.
Bexar County Elections has also said its voting machines are not connected to the internet and that the county uses pre-election Logic and Accuracy testing, chain-of-custody procedures and post-election audits.
Early voting in Bexar County ends Friday. Election Day is next Tuesday.
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