Leon Valley, TX – On Tuesday morning, voters who arrived at the Leon Valley Conference Center to cast early ballots encountered a significant delay when the newly installed ballot scanner jammed. Some voters reported waiting between 90 minutes and two hours before the issue was resolved.
What happened
According to Bexar County Elections Administrator Michele Carew, the scanner began to experience problems after approximately 1,200 ballots had been processed. The machine, which is rated to handle around 2,000 votes, started to jam as ballots fell into the feed box.
“It wasn’t too full, but we are noticing with our new scanners that the ballots, when they’re falling into the box, are not falling the way we’d like them to,” Carew explained to reporters.
Voter experiences
Roberto Flores, who arrived at the site around 11 a.m., said poll workers informed him that the “ballot box actually malfunctioned” and was not reading all the ballots correctly. “It’s not reading all the ballots right, just because there’s too many of us,” Flores told KSAT.
Other voters noted that technicians were on site within 30 to 45 minutes, but the line continued to wrap around the building for much of the day. Cathy Hazzard observed that many people chose to wait for the scanner to be fixed rather than use the emergency ballot bins that the county provides.
Despite the inconvenience, several voters expressed appreciation for the poll workers’ efforts. “They can’t control how many people turn out. So they’re doing their job,” said one voter, Sheldon.
County response
Carew said the county has a protocol for such situations. Emergency ballot bins are placed at each site, and judges are authorized to open them and transfer the ballots to a secure location for counting at headquarters.
“Our judges have the process to open those and put those ballots in there, and then those ballots will be counted here, at headquarters,” she said.
Going forward, the county plans to station technicians at polling locations to address equipment issues more quickly. Carew also noted that the first day of early voting this year has already drawn about 10,000 more voters than the first day of early voting in the 2022 midterm election, with roughly 30,000 ballots cast by 3 p.m. on Tuesday.
What voters should know
Voters who encounter similar scanner problems are encouraged to use the emergency bins rather than wait for the machine to be repaired. The county’s website provides estimated wait times for all Bexar County polling locations.
Election officials continue to monitor the situation and will adjust staffing and equipment as needed to ensure a smooth voting experience for the remainder of the early‑voting period.
Original reporting: San Antonio, TX News (HLL/CB) — read the source article.
