NEW ALBANY, Ind. (WDRB) -- Election officials in Indiana say issues with ballot scanners at several polling locations have been resolved.
Several polling locations in Floyd County, Indiana were down as voters headed to the polls on Election Day. The polling inspector at the Prosser Career and Technical Education Center in New Albany tell WDRB that the scanners were down at all of the locations at one point.
Throughout the morning, elections officials at Prosser said it was believed that ballot scanners at three polling locations -- the 4H Fairgrounds, Scribner and Valley View Gold Club -- began to work again for sometime. However, voters tell us the issues soon continued at all of those locations.
Polling workers allowed voters to either drop their completed ballots into a box or hold onto their ballots until the issue was resolved. Despite assurance from voting officials that every voted would be accounted for, many voters decided to wait in fear of something happening to their ballot.
Some voters were told to hold onto their ballots until the issue is resolved, while others were asked to leave their ballot in a drop box at the location to be scanned and counted later, but many did not want to do that and decided to wait.
We spoke with one woman at Prosser who was reluctant to leave her ballot without it being scanned.
This image taken from video dated Nov. 8, 2022, shows Amanda Keenan, who had to leave her ballot in a drop box at a Floyd County polling location when ballot scanners malfunctioned immediately after the polls opened.
"I don't know who's in there counting them, I don't know that they'll have time, or what gets missed," said Amanda Keenan. "So I'm uneasy for sure."
A long line of several dozen people could be seen around 7:30 a.m. at Prosser as voters waited for officials to resolve the issue.
Long lines at Floyd County, Indiana polling locations because election scanning machines are down at all locations other than Scribner and the 4H Fairgrounds. Voters are being asked to leave their ballot to be scanned and counted later. More info coming on @WDRBNews. pic.twitter.com/1D0lTHMdP7
— Dalton Godbey (@DaltonTVNews) November 8, 2022
IT technicians showed up at Prosser while WDRB crews were there, and polling inspectors there told our crews they got the scanners fixed at all polling locations just after 8:30 a.m.
The Floyd County Election Board released the following statement addressing the issue late Tuesday morning:
All Floyd County voting centers are currently open and functioning properly. During the first hour of Election Day activities, there were minor technical issues with respect to the scanning of ballots after voters had cast their ballots. Those ballots that experienced issues were collected by election staff on site for tabulation. All votes and ballots are counted and reconciled with logs from in-person voting.
These scanning issues have been corrected and all centers are now fully operating.
Important Election Security Reminders: The combination of voting books and scanner logs allow for all votes to be counted and verified. The voting system has security measures in place and does not allow additional ballots to be infiltrated into the process. It is important to note that voter systems are not connected to the internet or a network in any way, enhancing security and preventing malicious hacking.
The Floyd County Election Board will continue working to ensure a fair and secure election.
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