A massive election equipment failure for more than five hours in the middle of Election Day left hundreds of voters waiting for as many as three hours across Johnson County.
Election officials had considered requesting a court order to extend voting by one hour earlier in the day because of the widespread technical glitch, but decided not to once the system was repaired. It is unclear how many voters were unable to wait in such lengthy lines, and unable to return later to cast their ballot.
Voters who were in line at one of 20 vote centers at 6 p.m. were allowed to vote, per state law, regardless of the length of the line. Voting ended at the last vote center around 9 p.m.
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Election officials scrambled to fix the technical problem that stalled voting mid-day, which was an issue with the county’s vendor, ES&S software, an Omaha, Nebraska-based company that serves nearly 3,000 voting jurisdictions around the nation.
Electronic poll books, which are used to check people in before they can move on to a voting machine, kept freezing. Each time that happened, nobody could sign in to vote, which put lines at a standstill and left several voting machines empty.
While the actual voting machines were working correctly, the electronic poll books that were not are crucial to the process. They assure that a voter has not voted at another center, and the tablets tell poll workers which ballot a voter should get. Ballots differ across the county based on where you live, such as for school board races.
The problem, which affected all 20 of the county’s vote centers, wasn’t corrected until nearly 3 p.m. on Tuesday, when the vendor reported the problem had been fixed.
“The issue in Johnson County has been resolved, resulting in faster check-in times for voters. Earlier in the day, the poll book, which is used to check in voters but is not related to voting machines themselves, was running slowly. The poll book operation is now significantly improved. We apologize to voters and to election officials in Johnson County for longer wait times than expected, and we thank everyone for their patience,” ES&S said in a statement on Tuesday.
The county experienced a similar problem during the primary election in the spring. But not nearly as many people were trying to vote at that time and county officials were assured it was fixed, Clerk Sue Ann Misiniec said.
Glitch delays results, deters voters
The glitch delayed voting throughout the county. Several tried to get in line after 6 p.m. and refused to leave when they were told they couldn’t vote.
The line at The Nest Event Center in Greenwood was still winding through the building at 6 p.m., with a wait time of up to an hour and a half.
The standard rule is everyone in line within 50 feet of the polling place gets to vote. But at The Nest, everyone inside the building by 6 p.m. is able to vote.
Johnson County Democratic Chairman Kevin Service was at The Nest to observe how the line was handled after the polls closed. He said he pushed to get an extension earlier in the day on Tuesday.
“We had about a three to three and a half hour slow down,” Service said.
Election official Allen Distler said a few people got in line after 6 p.m. because they were told the deadline was extended to 7 p.m., which Distler said was not true.
“Our rule is at six o’clock, you shut down,” he said.
However, three people who arrived at the polling place just after 6 p.m. were allowed to vote.
Voters at Edinburgh Public Library, which rarely has long lines during elections, waited 45 minutes to an hour Tuesday afternoon, said Jason Lawson, an Edinburgh school board candidate. Voters at centers on the north side of the county, such as Mount Pleasant and the White River Township branch of the Johnson County Public Library, waited 2.5 hours.
“Worst election I’ve ever dealt with,” Misiniec said during a news conference Tuesday afternoon.
She also offered her apologies and said the problem was out of her hands. This was her last election. Republican Trena McLaughlin will take over as clerk in January. She currently serves as chief deputy clerk.
The glitch likely affected overall voter turnout, which still reached 50 percent, exactly what Misiniec predicted for total turnout on Monday.
Early voting was significantly heavier this year. Nearly 24,000 people voted early, which was highly unusual for a midterm election; 52,216 people voted in this election.
Heavier than normal turnout is what caused the glitch, officials said.
Everything was fine until it wasn’t
The voting equipment was running correctly for three hours, but at 9 a.m., the check-in process started getting slower, eventually leading to a standstill.
Marie Smith has been a poll inspector for 20 years, but said this is the first time she remembers having malfunctions on Election Day.
“It’s gotten worse and worse and we’re just at a standstill,” said Smith, a poll worker at Mount Pleasant Christian Church. “Originally it would take about 40 seconds. Now we’re dead. No one is checking in.”
The standstill lasted about 20 minutes before the four voters at the table got their chance to vote. Five minutes and six voters later, another stoppage.
“I don’t know. I don’t know. We’re trying,” Election Board member Cindy Rapp said when asked what advice election officials would like to give voters who don’t have time to wait that long.
“We trust that they can make it back by 6,” Election Board President Phil Barrow said of the voters who had to leave without voting due to long lines.
“We are doing everything we can to hold (ES&S) accountable. This will be studied deeply. What can I say except we’re sorry?”
Outraged
A Greenwood woman who lives within walking distance of Rocklane Christian Church waited 2.5 hours on Tuesday to cast her ballot at the rural Greenwood vote center.
Kathy Feldhake was outraged that so many people may have lost their chance to vote in this election because of the glitch.
She’s retired, so she could wait. But so many people just left without casting a ballot because they had to get back to work.
“And they wonder why Johnson County has such low voter turnout. This is a perfect example,” Feldhake said. “It’s not the poll workers’ fault. They were sweet as can be. It’s the powers that be.”
The county’s election board decided years ago not to offer a paper ballot option, which some voters argued could have served as a backup while the machines were down.
Under state law, the county is not required to provide paper ballots, since Johnson County uses voting machines. No paper ballots were available at vote centers on Tuesday. In order to vote on a paper ballot, voters had to follow the required state process for a mail-in ballot, and that deadline had passed.
“There’s not a backup? Really? That’s what I don’t understand,” Feldhake said.
“In hindsight, like I told my husband, we should have (voted) earlier. My heart goes out to the people who are standing in line that long because they desperately want to vote and may not be able to.”
Last-minute effort
Moments before the vote centers were set to close at 6 p.m., a resident who had not been able to vote earlier in the day due to the lines filed an emergency request asking a judge to order vote centers to stay open past 6 p.m.
Johnson Circuit Court Judge Mark Loyd denied the request because at that point, vote centers were already closing and the logistics of re-opening vote centers would not have been possible.
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Here is a look at voter turnout in the past several midterm and general elections.
2018;50%
2016;63%
2014;24%
2012;61%
2010;44%
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