This week, rumors of “vote switching” ran rampant across the Lone Star State. Stories were traded on the internet about how voters were going to the polls, only to see their selections switched to candidates from the opposing party.
Some of the most prominent reports came from Canyon, the seat of Randall County. The reports prompted the Fort Worth Star-Telegram to investigate.
The verdict? No, Texas’ machines aren’t switching votes.
Voting machines in Texas simply aren’t smart enough to do that. Most Texas counties use a machine called an eSlate, and the machine is notoriously prone to voter mistakes. About 1in 30 voters makes a mistakeusing the machines, according to a 2008 study. Fifteen years ago, the eSlate was an improvement over older methods. But in the contemporary era, they feel woefully outdated.
As the Fort Worth newspaper quipped, “it feels like driving a stick-shift ’98 Buick.”