What happens if there are voting machine issues at your polling place?

In Pennsylvania, there are multiple backups in place so voters can cast a ballot if there are issues with the voting machines.

All election equipment used by Pennsylvania counties—ranging from ballot-marking devices used for some in-person voting to machines that tabulate mail and absentee ballots—is put through a pre-election stress test known as logic and accuracy testing. 

Still, things can break down unexpectedly at the most inopportune moment—like voting machines on Election Day.

In Pennsylvania, there are multiple backups in place so voters can cast a ballot if there are issues with the voting machines.

According to Jeff Greenburg, a 13-year election director veteran who is now a senior advisor on election administration for The Committee of Seventy, a nonpartisan organization focusing on engagement and public policy advocacy, counties typically have roving technicians respond if issues arise. He said they are dispatched as quickly as possible once the issue is reported.

Typically, reports go from the precinct to the county election office. If the issue cannot be resolved or if legal action is required, the county solicitor and Board of Elections will determine if any further steps are required.

“If there is a significant enough impact on the voting location, the BOE could petition the county courts to extend hours,” Greenburg said.

Each county election office has a process in place to disseminate important information on Election Day. This can be through the county’s website, social media accounts or through local news outlets.

“People should only rely on trusted sources for this information,” Greenburg said. “Whether it’s through the county’s web site or social media accounts, or through local media outlets.”

Counties also have emergency paper ballots if machines cannot be repaired or replaced on Election Day.

Eva Weyrich, Juniata County’s director of elections, said the county only uses paper ballots and each polling place has one machine tabulator.

Even if something goes wrong with the tabulator, voters will still be able to fill out their ballots while a technician travels to the precinct to fix the issue.

Weyrich said the county has never had a machine go down for the whole day.

Juniata County prefers the hand-marked paper ballot system, according to Weyrich.

“We can always go back and hand-count the ballots to verify that the machine was accurate,” Weyrich said.

Forty-seven counties have voters fill in ballots by hand. The other 27 have voting machines that print paper ballots with the voter’s selections that can also be audited after an election.

Keystone senior community editor Patrick Berkery contributed to this report.