Voters report problems at some polls, but Westmoreland County says human error most likely cause

Voters in several precincts in the Alle-Kiski Valley reported problems with voting machines Tuesday, but Westmoreland County election officials said the machines worked properly.

At issue were votes cast in three precincts in New Kensington and at least one in Lower Burrell.

In each of the cases, voters reported that, when they tried to vote in the U.S. Senate race, the voting machines selected Democrat John Fetterman despite them tapping the button for Republican Dr. Mehmet Oz.

Rick Schachte, who worked as a Republican Party poll watcher in New Kensington, said he was notified that the problem happened at three sites: Mary Queen of Apostles School, First Evangelical Lutheran Church and the Parnassus Manor high-rise.

“We’re aware of at least eight people whose vote registered for Fetterman after they hit the button marked for Oz on the voting machine,” he said. “When they informed the poll workers about the problem, voters were told that the county was sending a technician out to check the machines and that they should just keeping hitting the buttons until their vote went to the candidate they picked.”

Greg McCloskey, the county’s election bureau director, and Scott Ross, who oversees the county’s election and computer information systems departments, said human error was likely to blame.

Ross said in cases in which someone contends their votes were not recorded correctly, the county dispatches computer technicians to determine whether there is a calibration issue with the touch-screen voting machines.

“We investigate every case,” Ross said.

Louise Yohe of Arnold said she had the same problem when she was voting at the library in Lower Burrell.

“I tapped the button for Oz, and Fetterman pops up,” she said. “I tapped it again thinking maybe my finger slipped, and nothing changed. So the third time I hit it pretty good with my fingernail, and it changed over to Oz.”

Bill Ansani of New Kensington said he experienced the issue while voting at the church on Ridge Avenue.

“I’m a Democrat, but there’s no Democrats on the ballot I could vote for, so I decided to go with Oz,” he said. “But when I hit the button for him, it went to Fetterman. It wasn’t until I hit it a third time that it switched over.”

Ansani said he checked the paper ballot that was printed to be sure it matched the selections he made on the machine.

“You’re not supposed to take photos in the polling station, but I took one of my ballot with my phone just in case there’s a problem,” he said. “I checked my paper ballot to make sure it was right, but how many people don’t do that?”

By mid-afternoon, the county sent out technicians to check machines in four or five precincts.

No issues were found, Ross said, and no machines had to be recalibrated.