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Fort Bend County resolves early voting issues
Fort Bend County officials have resolved their problems at the polls after first day blunders.
FORT BEND COUNTY, Texas - Early voting is now running smoothly in Fort Bend County after election staffers worked Tuesday night until 1 a.m. Wednesday fixing a glitch that impacted every early voting location, the County Elections Administrator John Oldham told FOX 26.
The Fort Bend County voting glitch originated in the check-in software, and the voting machines never had a problem," Oldham said. He says it’s all due to human error.
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“What happened yesterday was an error on our part,” said Oldham. It was an error that impacted all 30 early voting locations across Fort Bend County.
Oldham told FOX 26 the glitch happened on the new check-in equipment which is being used for the first time this year.
“We had no problems with voting machines,” said Oldham. “It was the ability to check people in, in order to issue them a ballot to vote, and that’s where our problem lies. It wasn’t with the equipment they vote on. It’s how we checked them in.”
He says the start date for early voting was programmed wrong in their check-in equipment, preventing anyone from checking in on Tuesday morning. After a temporary fix for the day, they spent hours Tuesday night reprogramming each machine before day two of early voting.
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“Our vendors are the same as our registration vendor, and that’s VOTEC out of San Diego, California,” said Oldham. “However, they worked with us till 1 o’clock in the morning to help facilitate the fix on this. They didn’t do it. We did it, so it wasn’t their fault. It was our fault.”
While the glitch did lead to delays, Oldham says everyone’s vote was counted, with droves of voters continuing to flock to the polls on day two of early voting.
Early voting hours have been extended from 5 to 7 p.m. in Fort Bend County to help compensate for the glitch that slowed voting on day one. Early voting lasts until October 30 with Election Day on November 3.
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