As voters head to the polls all around the country today, it didn’t take long for reports of potential vote fraud to surface.
As reported by KDKA, voters in Clinton Township (no kidding) who cast ballots for Republican nominee Donald J. Trump have reported that their electronic ballots were being switched to his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton.
Election officials in the small town located in Butler County confirmed to the station that yes, there were some issues with two of their eight automated voting machines. They said most of the issues occurred when voters tried to cast straight-ticket ballots.
But others said they specifically wanted to vote for Trump, but then watched in frustration as their vote switched before their eyes to Clinton.
“I went back, pressed Trump again,” Bobbie Lee Hawranko told KDKA. “Three times I did this, so then I called one of the women that were working the polls over. And she said you must be doing it wrong. She did it three times and it defaulted to Hillary every time.”
Pennsylvania state Rep. Daryl Metcalfe issued a statement saying that anyone who encounters voting issues of any kind should immediately inform election officials, but also call their county bureau of elections, as some people have already done.
Election officials said they recalibrated the machines and assured everyone that the issue was resolved. But that begs a couple of questions: Weren’t the machines calibrated already, prior to votes being cast? And if so, how could they fall out of calibration after voting began?
Trump has warned repeatedly that he believes he is facing a “rigged” electoral system, and indeed, there have been a number of reports of vote fraud leading up to the election. In fact, he has called on voters to make sure that, if they’re using electronic machines, their votes are accurate.
Looks like The Donald’s warning was prescient.
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