Voters and candidates could face the possibility of problems with ballot machines for the primary elections Tuesday.
Ingham County Clerk Mike Bryanton and his staff demonstrated how the ballot machines work and the possible problems that could occur with their use at the Ingham County Courthouse on Thursday.
"We are hoping for everything to go smoothly," Bryanton said. "There is always the possibility for something to go wrong."
The new ADA AutoMARK machines, designed to help people with disabilities, started malfunctioning shortly after they arrived in June, Bryanton said.
"We have had multiple problems with these machines," he said. "These problems include having them delivered late, memory card problems and power failures happening."
The AutoMARK machines allow voters to place their ballots into the machine and then pick what proposal they want to vote for by using a screen, a Braille keyboard, or using a tube to inhale or exhale into in order to make a selection. The person also can wear headphones if they have a hearing disability.
When people are finished voting, the machine marks their ballots with the proper votes and prints them out.
Bryanton said the optical scan that everyone else will be using did suffer some problems because of the humidity, but added it was because of the ballot, not because of the machine.
If the AutoMARK machines malfunction, Bryanton said inspectors would attempt to fix the problem, but he hopes someone from ES&S — the company that created the machines — will be around to help.
"We are hoping if one of these power failures occur that an ES&S employee would be able to fix the problem," Bryanton said. "Thing is, we don't know if any ES&S company members will be in town."
Some candidates for the 69th District have mixed reactions to the possibility of dealing with ballot machine problems when counting votes.
Councilmember Mark Meadows, a Democratic candidate in the primary, said it would be something to think about but should not be a major problem come election night.
"Certainly causes concern for any candidate when something like this is brought up," Meadows said. "I really don't see it causing a major problem when it comes to counting votes."
John Knowles, a Republican candidate running in the primary, said he is confused how something like a ballot machine is still causing problems in all elections.
"The question I keep asking myself is why the greatest country in the world still has this sort of trouble with a ballot machine," Knowles said. "It continues to confuse me as of this day."
Bryanton said in the worst case scenario, the ballots would simply have to be counted by hand to make sure all votes are accounted for.
Meadows said in these situations, making sure every person's vote is counted is the most important thing.
"It really is about preserving the integrity of the vote," Meadows said. "It's not the fastest way, but at least we know everyone's vote is acknowledged."
