Recent complaints about calibration problems in early voting in Guilford County reminded me of a situation I had during the only time I’ve utilized the early voting opportunity.

Back in 2008, I went with my neighbor to vote. It was on the last day of early voting and we had to stand in line for about two hours before casting our ballots.

I accidentally hit an unintended candidate for governor, and my neighbor at first marked her ballot for the wrong candidate for president.

Now, I wonder if the problem was really our fingers nicking the touchscreen in the wrong place, or if the screen had calibration problems. Whatever the cause, we realized our mistakes and made the necessary correction.

The complaints in Guilford County have come from voters who said that they had intended to vote for Republican Mitt Romney for president, but instead, the touchscreen marked their ballot for Democrat Barack Obama.

I asked Chuck Winfree, the senior Republican on the State Board of Elections, if he felt that the issues related to the Guilford County voting machines had been resolved. He said he felt that the problem had been addressed. But he cautioned voters using voting machines to make sure they double-check their ballots before casting their votes. “Please double-check the ballot before you finalize,” he said.

“I don’t see anything sinister about that,” Winfree said.

Winfree describes a scenario where both calibration problems and the angle that most of us are at when we touch our voting machines contribute to the
problem.

Winfree indicates that the problems with touchscreen calibration come with use.

When the machines were purchased, elections officials had in mind using them at precincts for one day. Now, many machines are used for a two and one-half week period at early voting sites, he said, suggesting that the additional use could through the calibration off a bit.

He’s hoping that daily calibration tools will help.

Then, Winfree said, because we’re standing above the voting machines, voters are more likely to hit toward the top of a candidate’s name than toward the bottom. That could result in some vote being marked for the candidate at the top of that particular office than for the bottom.
In North Carolina, state law specifies that the two major party candidates be listed in alphabetical order. “Democrat” alphabetically comes before “Republican,” so Democratic candidates are always listed above Republican candidates.

Winfree would like to see the placement changed, so that the parties are listed randomly. But that will require legislative change.

The best advice he has is for voters to double-check their ballots before casting them.

It only takes a minute to do so.