Election day ends with reports of vote counting tech challenges, text scams in several states

As the 2024 Election Day winds down, several states have reported challenges such as issues with the tech powering absentee ballot counting, text message-based disinformation campaigns, printer issues and more physical security threats.

During the Election Protection Coalition’s second online media briefing Tuesday, representatives from the nonpartisan voting rights organization told reporters that states in the Midwest were facing technical difficulties and legal impairments in counting absentee ballots.

At Milwaukee Central Count, Jay Heck, director of Common Cause in Wisconsin, told reporters during the briefing that over 30,000 of the 105,000 absentee ballots deposited at the election office need to be retabulated because election workers discovered around 2 p.m. CST on Tuesday that the tabulator machines had not been properly locked overnight.

“Out of an abundance of caution, the election workers in Milwaukee, at the at Central count are going to have to retabulate those 30,000 absentee ballots, which means that they’re starting all over,” Heck said. “It’s [30,000] of 105,000 so it’s not all of the ballots, but it’s a sizable portion of them. There’s nothing nefarious suspected, and is probably out of an abundance of caution.”

All 13 of the machines involved are being reset, and the absentee ballots will be re-run through the machines, according to a statement by the Milwaukee Election Commission.

“This afternoon, Milwaukee Election Commission leadership was alerted to an issue with the tabulator doors being fully in place. Each machine has a door that should have been locked and sealed. It appears some doors were not fully secured by senior election officials,” the statement read. “The City of Milwaukee has no doubt regarding the integrity of the election. However, in order to eliminate any doubt to be fully transparent, the MEC has decided to start the tabulation process over for all ballots at Central Count. As a result, the final count will be delayed.”

In addition, Emily Persaud-Zamora of Silver State Voices told reporters that 11,384 absentee ballots — or 3.1% of absentee ballots — in Nevada’s Clark County and Washoe County have been set aside for curing, the process of fixing any problems with absentee or mail ballots to ensure that a vote is counted because signatures were missing or did not match the signature on the voter’s driver’s license.

“Many of these voters are between the ages of 18 to 24 are on TikTok, and so we’ve taken to our young digital comms folks to create innovative TikToks to get the message across to voters of this age group, making sure that they’re aware before you send your mail in ballot, or to ensure that you have signed it, and to also make sure that they’re aware that the elections department is going to contact them with Nevada revised statute,” Persaud-Zamora said during the briefing.

Fake texts

In at least two states, voters have reported receiving fraudulent texts on Election Day, either claiming their ballots weren’t counted or voting machines at their local polls weren’t working.

City officials in Manvel, Texas — a small town outside of Houston — issued a statement warning about the scam Tuesday afternoon after reports that some of the town’s 17,000 residents received texts from “Manvel City Hall” that local voting machines were malfunctioning, according to Click2Houston.

In a Facebook post, officials in Manvel said the texts were not from City Hall and that Brazoria County — not Manvel — was conducting the election, adding that so far, the county has not reported voting machines malfunctioning. “You do not need to ‘vote again’ Please share this message with anyone who has received this fraudulent text,” the post continued.

In Tennessee, the Secretary of State Tre Hargett’s office also shared an alert regarding fraudulent texts some state voters were receiving about their ballots, stating that they were “removed from consideration,” according to a report from The Tennessean.

“We have been notified that some Tennessee voters have received a text message stating, ‘Your 2024 presidential election ballot has been officially removed from consideration,’” Hargett said in a statement. “This text message is nothing more than a scam, and our office has reported it to the authorities for further investigation.”

Jams and bomb threats

In other election updates, printer issues in Apache County, Arizona, which reportedly caused long lines, have been resolved. The battleground state also received non-credible threats to four polling locations in Navajo Nation, according to the secretary of state’s office. But unlike in Fulton County, Georgia, in-person voting was not disrupted because none of the polling sites were evacuated.

“These are unsubstantiated bomb threats,” Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes said in an afternoon news conference. “We have no reason to believe any voters or polling places are in jeopardy.”

According to Verified Voting, St. Clair County, Alabama is still awaiting reprinted ballots from the secretary of state’s office. The probate judge filed a petition to extend voting hours, which has been approved. Baldwin County, Alabama is getting human poll monitors because there have been reports of no privacy screens between voting booths.

Finally, after a voting machine jammed, some voters in Boston were rerouted to a different location. The issue has since been corrected, according to an emailed statement by Nicole Watkins of Verified Voting.