Voting machine issues reported in Richland County on morning of election runoff
As Columbians went the polls Tuesday in the runoff elections for mayor and a city council seat, reports surfaced of voting machines not working at multiple precincts.
Initially, issues were reported in 12 of 70-plus voting precincts in Richland County. But the problem could be more widespread and might have affected all voting locations, Alexandria Stephens, Richland County’s Director of Voter Registration and Elections, told The State.
Stephens said information on the specific polling places that reported problems was not available.
“We’ve had some issues with electronic poll books,” Stephens said. “There is no issue with voting. People can still vote.”
The electronic poll books are used to check in voters, Stephens said.
The problem meant the bar code used to select a a specific style of ballot was not working, South Carolina Election Commission spokesman Chris Whitmire told The State.
This did not prevent the ability to vote, it just created some extra work for poll managers, according to Whitmire.
Because the ballots were not being activated by the bar code, poll managers had to take voters to the machines and call up the ballots, Whitmire said.
Choosing the ballot and the vote scanning process is working fine, Stephens said.
“There is no issue with voters being able to vote,” Whitmire said.
But human error could have caused issues for some voters. Whitmire said there were reports of poll managers not handling the issue properly, and some might have turned voters away.
“No voter should be turned away. That should never happen,” Whitmire said. “If poll managers weren’t prepared and knowledgeable that’s an issue for Richland County to solve. This never should have been a major issue. No voter should be turned away, that’s inexcusable.”
Poll managers had the option of using paper ballots, according to Whitmire.
“We haven’t confirmed reports of people being turned away,” Stephens said. “Voters know they should not have been turned away.”
Anyone who is an eligible voter who did not vote in the morning because of the issue can go back and cast their ballot, according to Stephens. Those votes that were scanned are “definitely counting,” Stephens said.
“There was some initial confusion on election morning, but it should be zero issue at all going forward,” Whitmire said. “If a voter went out and didn’t cast a ballot they should go back.”
Daniel Rickenmann and Tameika Isaac Devine are in the runoff for mayor of Columbia. Both candidates are vying to replace Steve Benjamin acknowledged the issues at the polling places.
During a news conference Tuesday morning at the Richland County Election Committee headquarters Rickenmann said at least two dozen voters told him they’ve faced problems voting. Those issues include being turned away, or asked to fill out ballots with a pencil, and poll workers arguing with voters.
Rickenmann said his campaign has identified 19 precincts with “verifiable issues.”
The candidate is encouraging voters facing problems to report it to his campaign.
“We’re going to do everything we can to make sure the integrity of this election stays intact,” Rickenmann said. “This is the most important election in Columbia and people should know that elections are fair and honest and we want to make sure that happens.”
He also disputed the Richland County election commission’s outlook on the issues.
“It was very disappointing to hear the election commission behind me make a statement today to the press that there were no issues. There were issues. There were lots of issues,” Rickenmann said. “Why this bothers me more than anything is that we knew we had an issue before in the election where with paper ballots, people voted and they showed up on the voter roll as not voting.”
Rickenmann said the issues need to be addressed after the election to ensure there won’t be problems in the future.
“We are aware of several issues at polling places,” Devine tweeted. “They are being addressed but please don’t leave without casting your vote. Every vote matters. Every vote counts.”
Rickenmann’s camp echoed that, saying, “We are aware there are problems and want to encourage people to vote.”
Another runoff election for voters is the race between Tyler Bailey and Aditi Bussells for an at-large seat on the Columbia City Council.
The polls are open until 7 p.m., and anyone in line by then will be able to vote, according to Whitmire.
The issue with the electronic poll books is not expected to cause delays or increase wait times to vote, Whitmire said.
This is a developing story, check back for updates.
Staff reporter Rebecca Liebson contributed to this story.
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This story was originally published November 16, 2021 at 9:09 AM.
