A ‘coding error’ in the voting machines caused the votes to flip in several districts in Northampton County, Pennsylvania.
Voting machines went down in Palmer Township, Bethany Wesleyan Church in Lehigh Township, College Hill Presbyterian Church in Easton, and at the Allen Township Fire Hall on Tuesday.
“Northampton County Elections Office reports an issue with the recording of votes only for the races for retention to the Pennsylvania Superior Court, affecting Judge Jack Panella and Judge Victor P. Stabile,” a press release from the Northampton County Elections Office read.
— County of Northampton (@NorthamptonExec) November 7, 2023
The Associated Press reported:
A coding error in an eastern Pennsylvania county caused votes to be flipped on a ballot question that asked whether a pair of incumbent state appeals judges should be retained, officials said Tuesday.
Voters were asked to decide whether Pennsylvania Superior Court Judges Jack Panella and Victor Stabile should be retained for additional 10-year terms. The “yes” or “no” votes for each judge were being switched because of the error, said Lamont McClure, the Northampton County executive. If a voter marked “yes” to retain Panella and “no” on Stabile, for example, it was reflected as “no” on Panella and “yes” on Stabile.
McClure said voters first noticed the error on the printed voting records produced by the touchscreen machines.
The issue affected all the county’s voting machines in use Tuesday, which McClure estimated at more than 300. The Pennsylvania Department of State said the problem was isolated to the two retention votes in Northampton County and that no other races statewide were affected.
