Politics & Government

Voting Machine Glitches Reported at Some Bethesda Precincts

It's primary election day in Maryland. Polls are open until 8 p.m. About a dozen precincts in Bethesda reported problems with machines Tuesday morning, but workers are fixing the issues.

From Montgomery Community Media:

Voters at nearly a dozen Bethesda precincts received provisional ballots when technical problems cropped up with some voting machines.

The spokesperson for the Montgomery County Board of Elections, Marjorie Roher, said the problems were noted shortly after the polls opened at 7 a.m. Tuesday. The encode card to put in the voting machine was not working properly.

Roher said staff members fixed the problem in all but four precincts and those four precincts should be up and running soon. No voter was turned away during this issue.

Find out what's happening in Bethesda-Chevy Chasewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

“Anyone could still vote all morning,” Roher said, noting that provisional ballots were given to voters at the precincts where there was a problem.

She could not say how many voters filled out a provisional ballot. Paper ballots are counted before certification of the results but will not be included in tonight’s election results, Roher said.

Find out what's happening in Bethesda-Chevy Chasewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

So far, voter turnout has been fairly low, Roher said.

As for other issues, she said there was a signage issue at a precinct in mid-County and someone was sent from the Board of Elections office to monitor it. She could not say what precinct and did not have details about the exact signage issue.

The polls are open until 8 tonight.

Primary Election Night 2014 coverage will be simulcast by:

  • County Cable Montgomery (CCM: Channel 6 on Comcast and RCN, Channel 30 on Verizon)
  • Montgomery Community Media (MCM: Channel 21 on Comcast, RCN and Verizon)
  • Montgomery County Public Schools Television (MCPS TV: Channel 34 on Comcast; Channel 89 on RCN; Channel 36 on Verizon)
  • Montgomery College TV (MCTV: Channel 10 on Comcast, RCN and Verizon)
  • Rockville 11 (Rockville 11: Channel 11 on Comcast, RCN and Verizon)
  • Takoma Park City TV (Takoma City TV: Channel 13 on Comcast; Channel 13 on RCN; Channel 28 on Verizon)

Internet streaming video coverage of the broadcast will be available at www.mymcmedia.org.


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