Four voters at two Jefferson County early-voting sites say their touchscreen selections jumped to a different candidate this week, a problem local officials attribute to sensitive screens rather than anything sinister. Three of the reports came from the John Paul Davis site and one from Rogers Park on Oct. 22, with county leaders saying the equipment was tested and calibrated before the election began.
The reports surfaced after Jefferson County Democratic Party Chair Ramona Young said voters at the two early-voting locations told her their selections switched to another candidate once they touched the screen, according to 12News. Young said a correction button sometimes did not respond right away, and that voters might need to press it repeatedly before the screen switched back to their intended choice. She recorded a Facebook video about the reports and said the issue appeared to affect Democrats, Republicans and independents alike, worrying that some voters might not notice a changed selection and could end up casting an unintended vote.
Young called the Jefferson County Clerk's Office a little after 8:30 a.m. Thursday, and a staff member there told her to fill out an incident report and mail it in. She went on to file an incident report at the courthouse that day, and said two of the voters whose experiences she relayed also filed reports with the Voter Protection Network of the Texas Democratic Party. Young said she planned to submit five or six additional incident reports and hoped the complaints would prompt an investigation and lead to a technician being dispatched to John Paul Davis, saying the issue needs to be addressed immediately. 12News reported it had reached out to the Jefferson County Republican Party for comment but had not received a response.
What the County Clerk Says Is Happening
County Clerk Roxanne Acosta-Hellberg said her office was aware of the reported problem and that someone had visited her office Thursday to report concerns about an incident from the day before, per the same 12News account.
Acosta-Hellberg said voters can review their ballots. Her office tested and calibrated the voting equipment before the election, the station reported. Separately, KFDM has reported that Jefferson County's machines let voters make selections electronically before producing a paper ballot for review ahead of tabulation, and that voters who make a mistake or change their mind can request up to three replacement ballots before one goes into the tabulator. KFDM also reported that the tabulating equipment itself is not connected to the internet.
Similar Complaints Surfaced Across Multiple States
Jefferson County is not alone in fielding these complaints this week. In Bexar County, three voters told KSAT on Oct. 22 that their selections were either changed or dropped, though each caught and corrected the problem before casting a ballot, and the station reported at least three early-voting locations there had issues with the tabulators voters feed ballots into. Bexar County's elections department said it was monitoring the reports, according to a separate KSAT report, and officials there said that in nearly all cases a reported discrepancy traces back to an inadvertent selection or a voter not reviewing choices before finalizing a ballot. The county urged voters to carefully verify their printed ballot summary before casting it, and noted that when a tabulator is unavailable, voters can place a completed ballot into a secure, sealed Emergency Ballot Box for later scanning.
In Tennessee, a number of voters, including Dolly Parton's sister Stella, reported problems with voting machines, according to Forbes. Stella Parton said she had to go back three times to correct her gubernatorial selection because the machine kept defaulting to Marsha Blackburn. Forbes also reported complaints involving voting sticks in Davidson County.
Officials and Fact-Checkers Point to Calibration, Not Rigging
The Center for an Informed Public noted there were numerous reports of machines appearing to switch votes in several states as early voting got underway, with Tennessee drawing the most prominent attention around Oct. 21, and found that most voters described, including Parton, were able to correct their ballots and confirm their votes were accurate. Snopes reported finding no evidence that voting machines deliberately switched votes between candidates during the 2026 midterms, concluding the incidents were likely caused by human error or touchscreen alignment problems. In one case Snopes described, a Kansas election official said a technician recalibrated a touchscreen after voters raised concerns and then verified its accuracy.
The Los Angeles Times reported that election officials describe these touchscreen selection problems as almost always the result of user error or an easily fixed screen miscalibration, and that such reports commonly surface during statewide elections with high turnout. Officials quoted by the paper said voters can select a candidate as many times as needed, ask a poll worker for help, and review their selections before submitting a ballot — and that if a printed ballot doesn't reflect what a voter intended, they should notify a poll worker rather than cast it. In Texas, publicly observed Logic and Accuracy testing is conducted after ballot programming and printing specifically to verify that ballots are programmed and printed correctly and that the system marks and counts them correctly, according to the Texas Secretary of State.
