Montgomery County Officials Urge Voters to Carefully Check Their Electronic Ballots

From Montgomery County Judge Craig Doyal:

CONROE, TX - Elections Administrator Suzie Harvey and County Judge Craig Doyal said Montgomery County’s electronic balloting machines have been carefully checked to ensure they are working properly and are accurate, but are urging voters to watch for a common issue involving straight party voting in particular.
“We have heard about voting irregularities in other counties and around the nation, and we want voters to know we are vigilant about protecting voters and ensuring accuracy,” Judge Doyal said. "We cannot speak for other counties and states, but here in Montgomery County, we have confidence in our procedures."

“We maintain the machines carefully. Our machines are operating properly, and we are not seeing any issues with ballot programming,” said Elections Administrator Suzie Harvey. “However, we have observed at least one common misstep that can be made during balloting that, if not caught, could affect someone’s final ballot, and we urge voters to pay close attention to their ballot.”

Suzie Harvey said the common misstep involves straight party voting. Some voters have first clicked on straight party and then subsequently clicked on a presidential candidate.

If a voter does this, the selection made in the straight party choice is "deselected" and unless caught, will lead to a voter not voting for the candidate of their choice.

Harvey offered these tips if voting straight party, and for all voters:

1.DO NOT click on a particular candidate if you have already clicked on straight party; otherwise, that could remove your vote for that candidate.

2.BE SURE TO VERIFY the final ballot screen before casting your ballot to make certain it is accurate.

3.ASK FOR HELP from the elections clerks if you are not sure or something does not look right.

Image via Montgomery County Judge Craig Doyal.