Voting machines were temporarily down throughout McKean County during the general election –– but that didn’t hinder voting at the polls, an official reported on Wednesday.
McKean County Elections director Dinah Gallegos said that on Tuesday morning some of the personal electronic ballots showed up with a timestamp error code. A PEB is a device inserted into the machine that allows people to vote.
“In the time frame from when the polls opened until all the districts involved were contacted with the solution, which was to use the master PEB already in their possession, poll workers issued emergency paper ballots,” she said.
Overall, 11 emergency paper ballots were issued, Gallegos said.
The master PEBs did not come with an added cost, and she said that those devices were used throughout the remainder of the day.
As soon as the issue was discovered, Gallegos said computer support was contacted. At this point, she is calling the problem program related. She said she has to do more research into the issue.
“At the end of the evening there were no issues closing the polls,” Gallegos said.
Voting counts were not impacted, she said. Election results were completed at 10:29 p.m. Tuesday; the county’s 42 precincts closed at 8 p.m. that same day.
Meanwhile, some political positions are still up in the air across the county –– not a factor of voter machine mishaps, though.
No one ran for mayoral positions in Mount Jewett or Eldred. However, 42 write-in votes were cast for the Mount Jewett position and 29 for Eldred, according to unofficial election results.
In Hamlin Township, Donald L. Compton garnered 44 votes and 88 write-ins were cast for a supervisor’s role, unofficial election results reveal.
“At this election, one vote (or the candidate with the most write-in votes) will win the race,” Gallegos said.
It could not be immediately determined as to what individual received the most write-in votes. Plans call for the official counting of the write-ins on Monday. Later this month, votes will be certified and sent to the state.
All told, Gallegos said she couldn’t be more pleased with how the general election turned out. Even with the many unopposed seats in municipal election, 23.78 percent of voters came out to the polls.
“It was nice to have everybody turnout. That’s what we strive for,” she told The Era on Wednesday.
In fact, she said that she was glad to see more voters come to the precincts compared to the spring primary election, particularly in Bradford.
The election saw 5,634 voters throughout the county; there are 23,696 registered voters. On Tuesday, 1,435 individuals voted straight Republican; 398, straight Democratic; and 17, straight Green Party.
