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VIDEO: Virginia voting machine won’t let you pick the Republican candidate

Posted at 12:28 PM, Nov 04, 2014
and last updated 2014-11-04 17:18:14-05

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. -- The Republican Party of Virginia has alerted the Department of Elections after a voter in Virginia Beach shared video of what appears to show a touch-voting screen malfunction. The video shows the voter seemingly select Republican candidate Scott Rigell in the U.S. House 2nd District race. However, the machine registers the vote as going to Democrat Suzanne Patrick.

CLICK HERE: An unofficial guide to Election Day 2014 in Virginia

CLICK HERE: An unofficial guide to Election Day 2014 in Virginia

Donna Patterson, of the Office of the Virginia Beach Registrar, said officials have received "a few calls" regarding complaints from "three to four different polling places, in which the summary screen did not match who they voted for."

"All of those machines have been taken out of order until a technician can resolve the problem," she said. "All machines went through normal testing before Election Day and their technicians will try to figure out what the problem is with this handful of machines."

"Virginia has elections every year and we trust that the Department of Elections is doing everything it can to ensure accuracy during the voting process," Patrick's campaign manager Michelle Gajewski said.  "We will, of course, work with election officials to ensure this accuracy."

In a letter written to Virginia Department of Elections Commissioner Edardo Cortes, Republican Party of Virginia Executive Director Shaun Kenney detailed other reported Election Day issues.

"I am writing you early on Election Day to advise the Board and the Department that our authorized representatives have identified significant voting machine issues in at least four different Congressional Districts. The errors relate to the calibration of DRE touch screen machines. Our team has alerted the Electoral Boards in the jurisdictions where these problems have occurred," Kenney wrote. "Voters have difficulty selecting the candidate of their choice using the touch screen because the screen's touch sensor is not properly aligned with the text that appears on the screen."

Kenney said those problems were reported in Arlington County, Prince William County, Spotsylvania County and Virginia Beach.

"Touch screen voting machine voters have an opportunity to review their selections and make final edits on a summary screen before their ballot is cast. If a machine does not reflect the voter’s choice, the voter should notify an officer of election prior to casting their ballot," a Virginia Department of Elections spokesperson wrote in an email.

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This is a developing story.