NAACP Wants Audit of Texas Voting Machines After Vote Switches

The NAACP is urging Texas Secretarial assistant of State Rolando Pablos to ensure Hart eSlate electronic voting machines in the state are not compromised following concerning reports about people's midterm ballot votes beingness switched.

"In the by week, we have received reports from individuals and voter advancement groups that some Texas voters attempting to cast a straight-ticket ballot for the Democratic Political party on Hart eSlate machines have seen their selection for U.South. Senator switch at the concluding moment to the candidate for the Republican Political party," the NAACP Legal Defence and Educational Fund and Texas State Conference of the NAACP wrote in a Tuesday latter to Pablos.

In other words, some Texans trying to vote for Democratic candidate Beto O'Rourke have seen their selection switch to incumbent Republican Senator Ted Cruz. The NAACP added that information technology has non received any reports of this happening to voters attempting to cast a straight-ticket election for the Republican Party.

The civil rights organization is now urging Pablos to "take immediate action" to ensure the machines are operation properly and take not been targeted by malicious actors aiming to interfere with the election.

The NAACP'due south letter comes later on Pablos final week acknowledged the outcome but said information technology was not the result of a malfunction, and that the machines are non randomly switching votes. In an Oct. 27 advisory to voters and election officials, Pablos said his office is enlightened of the problem occurring "less than 20" times during the first week of the Early Voting period.

"In each case, these voters were able to properly review and cast a election that accurately reflected the choices they made," Pablos wrote. He went on to say that a 2022 examination of the machines in question indicated that "this miracle is caused by a voter taking an action on the car before information technology has finished rendering all the choices resulting from the voter's straight-party pick."

He recommended voters wait at least iii to v seconds for their choices to be rendered on the machine when voting a straight-party ballot. Voters should then review their choices, and ask for assistance if they run into whatever problems.

The NAACP, meanwhile, is not satisfied with Pablos' explanation and guidance. The organization wants Pablos to set upward an emergency task force – "comprised of an equal number of members from the major political parties" forth with Texas voter advocacy organizations – to inspect and audit a sample of the Hart eSlate machines in counties where the outcome has been reported.

Well-nigh Angela Moscaritolo

Angela Moscaritolo

Angela Moscaritolo is PCMag'southward skilful on fitness and smart home products. Teaching yoga for nearly 10 years has helped her in evaluating a range of connected health products including fettle trackers, heart rate monitors, rowers, smart scales, stationary bikes, strength training machines, treadmills, and more. Angela also tests smart domicile devices from her ranch in Florida, including air purifiers, kitchen appliances, and robot vacuums, simply to name a few.