Claim:
Software glitches prevented electronic scanning of ballots in Cambria County, Pennsylvania requiring extended voting hours on Election Day 2024. Rating:
Election officials were prepared for any potential software issues by informing voters they would keep paper ballots locked up until any resolution could be found. Cambria County extended voting hours up until 10 pm so as to reduce confusion or anxiety caused by this development.
Early on Election Day 2024, reports of voting machine malfunction in Pennsylvania surfaced online via social media channels such as Facebook. Based on these accounts, claims regarding these incidents quickly spread via this platform – leading to false rumor mongering: “voting machines malfunction in Pennsylvania.”
WJAC confirmed these issues were limited to Cambria County Board of Election officials identifying an software issue which prevented ballot scanning:
Cambria County Board of Election learned early Wednesday morning of a software failure within their Electronic Voting System that prevents voters from scanning their ballots – this should not discourage voters from attending their voting precincts […]
There is a process set up for issues of this sort; completed ballots will be accepted, secured, and counted by the Board of Elections. Express voting machines have also been installed at precinct locations to enable voting electronically while still permitting hand ballots to be cast.
As reported by WJAC: Cambria County Election Board announced after filing a petition with a judge that voting hours had been extended from 8 pm to 10 pm due to technical problems preventing voting from beginning at the original time of 8 p.m.
Election officials reported to voters, in their petition approved around 11 a.m. after several hours of voter frustrations, that an EVS software problem prevented voters from scanning completed ballots and voting successfully.
“This malfunction caused confusions among voters and long lines at polling locations; many individuals left these polling locations without casting a ballot,” according to the petition.
Though these issues might slow the vote count, they do not prevent people from casting ballots and having theirs counted. WJAC reported that ballots will be collected into lock boxes until they can be scanned, secured and counted later on.
Initial reports claimed this issue affected multiple counties; however, officials later confirmed it only applied to Cambria county.
Snopes has provided thorough coverage on this matter; delayed vote counts do not constitute election fraud or disenfranchisement. Since technical problems delaying vote counting did lead to voting extension in Cambria County, however, the claim can be confirmed as true.!function(f,b,e,v,n,tsss).
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