I had an early voting glitch.

[TomSlick]

I was standing at the door when the polling place opened for early voting, so I was the first voter on one of the machines.

Everything seemed to work until I printed the ballot, at which point an error message appeared. The voting officials couldn't figure out the problem. My ballot had printed but the scanner wouldn't read it. The bottom line is that my ballot was put with the provisional ballots.

The head of the local voting commission assures me that the ballot will be counted and that I don't need to appear for the provisional ballot hearing the Tuesday after the election. I've known her for years and I trust her when she tells me there is nothing to worry about.

We have really good voting machines that produce a printed ballot that is saved for any needed recount. It usually works flawlessly. My timing was just bad.

The teaching point is to not be the first voter on a machine.

[Think. Again.]

1. The Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law is requesting ANYONE who has ANY difficulty...

...with their voting experience to report that experience to them at:

866-OUR-VOTE

If you or anyone you know has trouble voting, for any reason, call 866-OUR-VOTE, a hotline set up by Election Protection, a nonpartisan national coalition led by the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.

We don't know all the games that they will be playing and the report of your experience could very well be important in some way.

[TomSlick]

3. The County Election Coordinator is a long time client and friend.

I don't have any doubt my ballot will be counted. Sometimes there is an advantage from living in a small town.

There is a "hearing" at noon on the Tuesday after the election for the County Election Commission to rule on provisional ballots. I may go just to see how the hearing goes.

[Think. Again.]

4. I believe the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law is requesting this info in case there is a larger problem...

...that they should look into, as well as to help individual voters with any one-time difficulties.

[TomSlick]

7. That makes sense.

I'll find out if the problem happened again. I think I was just the first voter on that machine after it was delivered by the supplier.

[Think. Again.]

8. I really don't know about that stuff but I believe thos machines are supposed to be tested before they reach the public.

[TomSlick]

9. Murphy's law has universal application.

The other rule that applies: "To err is human. To really screw things up requires a computer."

[Think. Again.]

10. I absolutely agree, especially when humans can easily screw up a computer.

[sinkingfeeling]

2. I take it the tabulator issued the error. Did the election judge attempt to enter it again?

[TomSlick]

5. The error was on the voting machine.

The machine printed the ballot but there was a error message on the screen which neither the poll workers nor I understood. The election coordinator managed to pull the ballot from the machine. I checked it for accuracy and tried to feed it into the separate scanner/tabulator, which kept spitting it back. I tried, all the poll workers tried, but the scanner simply would not accept it.

It will be fine. The County Election Coordinator is an long-time friend and client. She's confident it will be counted by hand. If she's confident, I'm confident.