LAUREL COUNTY, Ky. — Kentucky officials are responding to a viral video showing an apparent issue with a voting machine in Laurel County.
The video shows a woman unable to select former president Donald Trump as her pick in the 2024 presidential race. The woman keeps tapping on the screen and it then selects Democratic presidential candidate, Vice President Kamala Harris.
Late Thursday night, Laurel County Clerk Tony Brown confirmed someone reported that a machine was malfunctioning.
He said the issue was with a touchscreen ballot marking machine, specifically an ES&S ExpressVote machine which doesn't process votes, adding that it was immediately taken out of service while staff waited for a representative from the Attorney General's office to investigate the claim.
Brown said they were eventually able to replicate the issue after several minutes, but couldn't do it again.
"This was accomplished by hitting some area in between the boxes," he said, sharing a video hours later of staff clicking between various candidates without issue. "This is the same machine used by the voter in the video."
Attorney General Russell Coleman said that the state's Department of Criminal Investigations investigated the complaint and recommended the machine be switched out. He reaffirmed that Kentucky's elections are secure and said his office would quickly respond to investigate any incidents reported in the state.
Brown added that the voter who took the video was able to cast her ballot with the correct selections.
Secretary of State Michael Adams also took to social media dispelling any uncertainty.
"There is no 'vote-switching.' The voter confirmed that her ballot was correctly printed as marked for the candidate of her choice. Get your voting information from legitimate sources," he said.
The State Board of Elections said 1,700 voters cast their ballots in Laurel County on Thursday and it was not made aware of any other issues with the machine or ballot scanner.
What is a ballot marking device?
According to Brown, voters insert a blank ballot into the machine and select candidates for various races.
"It shows you who you have chosen for each race and notifies you if you didn't make a selection," he explained. "When you come to the end of the ballot it shows you how you voted in every race and issue. It confirms with each voter that they are satisfied with their selections twice before printing the ballot."
Once printed, the ballot still needs to be placed into a scanner to be counted.
If a voter finds a mistake on the printed ballot, they are allowed to "spoil" it and receive another one. Under Kentucky law, voters can only have two spoiled ballots, Brown said.
Here's a video from the Laurel County Clerk's Office explaining how the ballot marking device works.
"I hate that this has occurred here in Laurel County," he said. "We strive to have accurate, secure and safe elections that we are proud to provide to our citizens. I hope all can get to the polls and make your voice heard Nov. 5."
State election officials advised voters using the ExpressVote touchscreen to "use their finger or a stylus to firmly make their chosen selections within the middle of the field allocated for that candidate or response."
Any Kentucky voter experiencing issues preventing them from casting their ballots is advised to report concerns to election officials at their polling location and then call the Attorney General's election hotline at 1-800-328-VOTE.
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