Johnson County Election Officials say there have been no widespread issues with voting machines during early voting and that all of the equipment used passed accuracy checks before being put in the field. This comes in response to accounts circulating on social media with unsubstantiated claims that voters have seen their choices “change” on screen.

Commenters on Facebook and NextDoor have related stories of having trouble with the electronic machines, with some saying they reported the issue to election workers.

The Johnson County Election Office said in an emailed response that they had received reports from three voters about issues with machines. That’s out of the 50,000 voters who have already cast ballots during early in-person voting. Those three reports were received by the election office after the voter had left the polling place, according to the statement.

There were also five calls from early voting location supervisors of similar issues, the statement said. In each case, a technician was able to recalibrate the screen and verify that the touchscreen was accurate.

All of the voting equipment is tested before each election for accuracy, the statement said.

Election officials asked anyone who believes their voting machine was not accurate to tell the supervising judge before leaving the polling site, so election staff can identify the specific machine involved, investigate and correct it.

Election office: Touch candidate’s name, not the checkbox next to it

They also repeated advice to work around a quirk of the touchscreens: Voters should be sure to touch their candidate’s name, rather than the small checkbox in front of it, when making a selection, election officials have said. That advice is also frequently given by election workers escorting voters to the machines.

That advice has become a feature of Johnson County elections in recent years. Election Systems & Software, of Omaha, Nebraska — the maker of the machines Johnson County uses — responded that they have not seen widespread reports of issues with the screens.

“Voting machines do not change votes,” said the company’s response.

The company’s statement went on to echo the county’s advice about where to touch the screens. “Most commonly, reported instances stem from a voter not touching the text box in the correct place. They can touch anywhere inside the large box containing the candidate’s name,” it said, adding that confirmed cases of issues with touching the screen incorrectly are rare.

“ES&S systems are designed with multiple safeguards to ensure voter intent is accurately captured, including voter review of selections, a voter-verifiable paper record, and post-election audits that compare results to the paper ballots,” the company response said.

There was no word on whether the company is working on an easier user interface for the screens.

Distrust of voting machines and stories about changed votes has popped up across the country as voting begins in the hard-fought midterm elections — even though counties do not all use the same makers of voting equipment.

Dolly Parton’s sister, Stella, made news recently with a Facebook post relating her experience with a machine she said changed her vote from a Democratic candidate to a Republican one. She voted in Tennessee, and it’s unclear what brand of voting machines were used.

Most problems are the result of user error or touchscreen calibration that can be easily fixed, according to the Associated Press.

How to make sure your vote is cast correctly

There are some fail safes for voters to ensure accuracy that county election officials recommend.

• Before the ballot becomes final, voters can review all their selections on the screen.
• If the selections look okay, the next step is to go over the printout the machine spits out.
• If the printout looks OK, then the voter takes it a few feet away and feeds it into a scanner. If the printout does not accurately reflect the intended votes, then the election office asks that it be reported immediately to a supervising judge so the machine can be attended to and the correct vote cast. “This allows us to identify the specific equipment involved, investigate the concern immediately and ensure the voter is able to cast their ballot with confidence,” the election office said.
• Although there isn’t a step to inspect whether the scanner correctly tabulated the votes, there is an audit done in every election to check for discrepancies.