Faulty machines blamed for switching votes in second consecutive Greater Lafayette election West Lafayette voter captures vote switching problem on video, marking second consecutive Election Day with those problems. Clerk urges voters to point out issues to poll workers as they happen

Dave Bangert | Journal & Courier

Show Caption Hide Caption Vote machine problems in West Lafayette In this video provided to the J&C, West Lafayette voter Robert Kurtz shows trouble he had accurately casting votes for West Lafayette City Council at-large candidates.

WEST LAFAYETTE – A vote switching problem that frustrated Greater Lafayette voters in November 2018 elections – and wound up part of a federal lawsuit filed in October – caused scattered problems again during Tuesday’s municipal Election Day.

Tippecanoe County Clerk Julie Roush traveled to West Lafayette Fire Station No. 3, 1100 Kalberer Road, shortly after lunch Tuesday to check the calibration on three machines, after receiving a call from a voter who said the voting machine he used kept marking an “X” for someone else when he touched the screen for the candidate he wanted.

Meanwhile, Robert Kurtz, a voter in West Lafayette, took a video of faulty vote recording on a touch screen at a vote center a Federated Church in West Lafayette. The video captured his attempt to vote for three of four candidates for three at-large seats on the West Lafayette City Council.

“When I touched a square next to a candidate's name, the machine selected the square for the candidate above,” Kurtz said. “If I touched the square for the candidate at the top of the list, nothing happened.”

Kurtz reported had similar issues to poll workers when he voted in the 2018 general election, which recorded several incidents during early voting and on Election Day of voting machines that marked votes incorrectly, until voters figured out how to adjust where they touched the ballot machine’s screen. In 2018, election officials weren’t able to replicate the problems when they recalibrated machines and tested them.

ELECTION 2019: What’s at stake in Lafayette, West Lafayette, surrounding towns

Kurtz said he pointed out the problem, again, Tuesday morning. He said poll workers showed him how to clear his selections and how to touch below the box he wanted to select.

“Then they went over to help someone else who had questions,” Kurtz said. “They’re just volunteers, so I don’t blame them, but these machines are junk and need to be replaced.”

At the West Lafayette fire station on Kalberer Road, Bill Mercier said he ran into a similar problem when he was trying to select between West Lafayette Mayor John Dennis and independent challenger Zachary Baiel.

"I caught it and corrected it by figuring out what was going on," Mercier said. He said he didn't alert poll workers, who were checking in other voters, because he needed to get back to work.

"But I can imagine others didn't catch it," Mercier said. "It shouldn't be working that way, let's put it that way."

Mike Smith, a staff member with the Tippecanoe County Election Board, said the office had fielded one official report from a poll worker, as of 2:30 p.m. Tuesday, about similar calibration issues.

“In that case, they worked it out,” Smith said. “We’re deploying massive resources based on one report. … Unless someone comes up and shows me, it’s hard to make a diagnostic guess about what’s the problem. Is it the machine? Is it a matter of coaching the voter or giving them a stylus? … We’re staying on top of it, though.”

Roush said she’d personally been out to polls twice Tuesday to check on machines.

“It’s not a case of being set up to change a vote,” Roush said. “It’s a calibration issue. … If voters have issues, please have them tell a poll worker so we can address it right away.”

The complaints came on what was, by early accounts, a light day of voting – which followed a light month of early voting.

Heading into Tuesday’s Election day, 2,138 people had voted in Lafayette, West Lafayette, Dayton and Battle Ground, Roush said. That's considerably less than in 2015, at the same point. Final turnout that year was just 13.4 percent.

A final turnout, along with results from Tuesday’s elections, were not ready in time for the J&C’s print deadlines.

That stoked some of the fire from Vicky Woeste, who ran unsuccessfully for county clerk in 2018 against Roush. Woeste, who lives in West Lafayette, is among five plaintiffs in a federal case filed by Indiana Vote by Mail, an Indiana nonprofit group, against the Indiana Election Commission and Indiana Secretary of State Connie Lawson.

The 25-page complaint, filed Oct. 17 in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, claims that the state has exhibited a lack of urgency in eliminating the use of direct recording electronic voting machines, such as the ones used in Tippecanoe County. The lawsuit claims the machines are susceptible to manipulation and do not provide a voter-verified paper audit trail.

The suit also calls for new voting machines in time for elections in 2020, a presidential election year.

“Today’s mishap is an excellent demonstration of our urgent need for new voting machines with audit trails,” Woeste said. “I’ve personally been aware of these calibration errors since 2014. This is our fifth election since that year, and as citizens we deserve to be better served by the Elections Board. No one can have full confidence in the results of our elections as long as these machines are in use.”

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Roush, on her way to check on machines in West Lafayette, reiterated the county’s stance on a multi-million-dollar question about replacing a system purchased around 2006.

“We’re not getting new voting machines until 2021,” Roush said.

ELECTION RESULTS: For winners in Lafayette, West Lafayette, Dayton and Battle Ground races, go to jconline.com.

Reach Dave Bangert at 765-420-5258 or at dbangert@jconline.com. Follow on Twitter: @davebangert.