Daniel Walmer, and John Latimer

Lebanon Daily News

READ MORE: Latest Pennsylvania election results

The question of election day 2016 in Lebanon County is becoming: "Did you preview your ballot before voting?"

An issue arose shortly after polls opened at 7 a.m.for some voters choosing Donald Trump for president. When they previewed their ballot on the touchscreen machine at the polls, some found a vote for Trump was reported as a vote for Hillary Clinton.

A problem with the calibration of electronic voting machines in Lebanon County caused at least some machines to represent straight Republican tickets as straight Democratic tickets, said Michael Anderson, director of the Lebanon County Bureau of Elections,. Several other machines had different problems not related to voting, such as a blank screen appearing when it was started, he said late Tuesday evening.

Anderson said he knew of two cases when voters attempting to cast a ballot for the full Republican ticket contacted a poll worker when they noticed in the review screen that the vote was going to a straight Democratic ticket instead. A few others, he said, were able to correct the problem, themselves without the aid of a poll worker, he said.

Live: Lebanon County Elections 2016

The Bureau of Elections has a software expert who was able to solve the problem in each case, he said. It involves a calibration issue regarding the machine. The Republican and Democratic straight tickets appear next to each other on the ballot.

In each case, the problem was resolved and the voter was able to successfully change their ballot to the desired ticket, Anderson said. He was not sure whether there were any instances of a straight Democratic ticket appearing as a straight Republican ticket.

But others, including individuals on social media and Lebanon County Republican Committee Chairman Casey Long, believe the problem was more widespread.

It was also not the only problem hampering voters at the polls Tuesday.

At several precincts, voters whose names were not in the polling books as expected where told they could not vote, instead of being provided a provisional ballot as the law requires, said Lebanon County Democratic Committee Chairwoman Lois Herr.

Herr said the committee heard from eight to 10 people who were not able to cast their votes at a North Cornwall Township-North and several other precincts.

"They left feeling very angry," she said.

Herr said she spoke with county voter officials to explain that the law requires voters whose registration is called into question for any reason are to be given provisional ballots but was rebuffed.

When she returned with Annville attorney John Feather they were able to convince the county that provisional ballots should be used, and instructed Anderson to inform election judges at all of the counties precincts. That was about 5 p.m., she said.

Anderson acknowledged that a handful of voters with no records indicating they are registered were not able to vote for a portion of the day. Some, he said, left after growing impatient while his office tried to verify their registration.

After hearing from Feather and conferring with the county's chief administrator Jamie Wolgemuth and solicitor David Warner, Anderson said a decision was made to expedite the voting process and allow provisional voting for anyone whose eligibility was in question, with the knowledge that if it could not be verified when the official vote is tabulated on Monday it could be thrown out.

An attempt was made via radio station WLBR to inform those voters who had left without casting their votes that they could file one provisionally, Herr said, but she does not know how successful that was. She noted that the policy affected both Democrats and Republican voters.

"I think it was a misinterpretation of policy," Herr said. "I don't think it was intentional, but it kept people from voting."

With the voting machine glitch, it was not clear how many if any votes were cast in error.

With the exception of those who did not file provisional votes, Anderson maintains everyone who voted Tuesday cast the ballot they intended to.

"All I heard from to the end was either emails or calls to me saying this happened," he said. "And when I asked did you vote the way you wanted, the answer was, 'Yes."

The polling locations where voting machine errors were confirmed included Myerstown Community Library and the Lebanon Municipal Building, Anderson said.

Cecelia McNaughton, judge of elections for Lebanon's 1st Ward West, confirmed one incident at the Lebanon Municipal Building. She said a man voting a straight Republican ticket at 7:30 a.m. alerted her that the machine showed the Democratic slate of candidates. She canceled the vote and the man completed his voting on another machine correctly. After notifying voter registration, within minutes a technician arrived and correctly recalibrated the machine.

McNaughton said around lunchtime Tuesday that the machine has been functioning fine ever since.

These folks are running for office on Tuesday

But Lebanon County Republican Committee Chairman Casey Long said Tuesday afternoon that he took an elderly woman to the same precinct and she had the same problem on the same machine. He believes the county is down playing the extent of the problem.

Long said phones in the committee's office had been ringing all day from people reporting the voting machine irregularity in precincts across the county, including Annville, Myerstown, Swatara Township and in the city.

Long could not say what action the party might take.

"I don't really know what we can do at this point except keep our eyes open when the results come in," he said. "With this county's (voting) history, if Trump doesn't win by 65 percent or above, then I think there is something seriously wrong."

Swatara Township resident Fred Stafford said he voted at about 8:30 a.m. at the Swatara municipal building and attempted to cast a ballot for the Republican party ticket, but the review screen showed the Democratic ticket instead. He alerted his poll workers, who instructed him how to cancel the ballot. He tried several more times to get the Republican ticket without success, he said. The poll worker then attempted it 2-3 times before ultimately getting the Republican ticket to work, he said.

Since the calibration issue came out, Lebanon Daily News has received calls from voters complaining about incorrect ballots for individual candidates.

Roy Gingrich said he attempted to vote specifically for Republican Presidential Candidate Donald Trump, but when he arrived at the review screen, it indicated his ballot was about to be cast for Democratic Presidential Nominee Hillary Clinton.

“I was ready to explode in front of everybody, but I just kept my calm,” he said.

Gingrich said he talked to a poll worker who believed the problem might be oil on the voting screen. After the screen was wiped, he cast his ballot again and this time the machine displayed his vote for Trump correctly.

Gingrich was alerted by Jack Yanni, a fellow voter who cast his ballot - and almost had it mistakenly recorded as a vote for Hillary Clinton. Yanni told Lebanon Daily News that he saw Gingrich in line as he was leaving the polls, and the man had a Trump hat on. Yanni warned him to preview his ballot and make sure his presidential choice was the one he meant to make.

Yanni told Lebanon Daily News that his ballot, when previewed, showed he voted for Clinton when he in fact did not. He alerted a poll worker and his vote was corrected before it was submitted.

Lebanon voting: What you need to know

Speaking for the elections office, when asked about this issue, Anderson said that when poll workers are trained, they are instructed to wipe screens periodically. It is possible that oil on a screen could cause a voter's fingers to slip. However, he said he would not speculate on whether that actually caused any voting problems in this election.

Problems with Trump ballots previewing as Clinton votes have also occurred in Butler County, according to KDKA in Pittsburgh.

Terry Madonna, a political science professor at Franklin & Marshall College, said he heard of calibration problems in the primary election but hadn't heard of it before this year. The government has a responsibility to ensure voters can have confidence in the outcome of an election, he said.

"Do I think this is something that is widespread? No. Do I think this is something that’s going to impact the result of the election? No. But I do think it’s a problem that should be taken care of," he said.

Concerns about the error at polling locations have also been the subject of discussion on the Facebook pages of several Lebanon County residents.

"It's deeply concerning," Megan Sweeney, communications director for the Republican Party of Pennsylvania, said of the ballot previews being incorrect. "It is something our election day legal team will look into."

All voters are encouraged to review their ballot before casting it, and to alert their poll worker or the Bureau of Elections if there are any problems, Anderson said.

Update to correct that Voter Registration Director Michael Anderson conferred with Lebanon County chief administrator Jamie Wolgemuth and solicitor David Warner regarding the provisional ballot policy.