The Brennan Center for Justice has sent a memo to the County Board of Elections were the TSX is used. It seems some counties in Ohio they have split the presidential candidates into two columns on their paper ballots. This has caused problems with voters in the past. Lawrence Norden from the Brennan Center has the details of why this is so confusing on the TSX also.

More recently we’ve found out that some counties that use touch screen machines have split the presidential contest onto two pages — meaning on the first screen voters might see Barr and Nader, and on the second screen McCain and Obama. For reasons explained in a memo we sent to county officials, that’s likely to confuse and frustrate a fair number of voters. So far we have confirmed that Portage (home of Kent State), Hancock, and Wayne Counties have split the presidential contest this way. Others like Montgomery, Stark, and Butler Counties have managed to get the presidential contest (eight candidates and a write-in slot) onto one screen.

In their memo they explain the problem and what their research has shown when presidential candidates are put on two different screens.

Layout of the Presidential Contest on the TSX

We have recently been contacted by Ohio voters concerned that in certain counties using the AccuVote TSX, the presidential contest is spread over two pages. Based on calls to county boards in the past day, this complaint appears to be correct. Some counties (including Montgomery and Butler) report that they placed the entire presidential contest on a single page. Our studies have shown that placing the presidential contest on two screens is likely to confuse many voters and could lead to voter error. Of course, the TSX will not allow voters to vote twice in the same contest. However, we fear that some voters will select a candidate on the first page, only to realize that their actual preferred choice is on the second page. As you surely know, some voters – particularly elderly and new voters – can have difficulty figuring out how to change their selection. If the presidential contest on your TSX is split over two screens, we urge you to change your ballot layout so that, like the ballots in Montgomery and Butler counties, the entire presidential contest is listed on one page.

They have asked officials to change this before election day to avoid confusion and frustration. I can envision the lines this is going to cause in those counties – when they don’t understand why all the candidates are not listed on the first screen. Brennan is asking if this revision can not be accomplished by Nov. 4th; that they have signs explaining the two pages of Presidential Candidates to cut down on the confusion. Kudos to the Brennan Center for contacting the Ohio election boards in advance of this potential problem, to point out the serious ballot design flaw, and for addressing the complaints that the county election boards have been receiving about these ballots.