Isophoric News · Thursday, October 22, 2026
Before you cast your ballot, check the printed copy: touchscreens can register the wrong selection, and the paper is what is counted
Dozens of Tennessee voters told WSMV that on ballot marking machines in Davidson and Williamson counties, their selection registered as a different candidate than the one they chose, and some said it took at least three tries to get their choice to appear. These are voters' accounts: nothing published establishes that a machine malfunctioned or that any vote was miscounted. Mark Goins, Tennessee's coordinator of elections, said such mismatches have always traced to unintended touches, which he compared to a long fingernail near the edge of a selection box touching its neighbor, and that his office sends a Republican technician and a Democratic technician together to examine equipment whenever an issue is reported. The Secretary of State's office said it has received one complaint of this kind among about 400,000 ballots cast so far, while WSMV reported that dozens of voters described the problem, and Goins said his office received one call before WSMV's first report and a few more afterward. Touch screens can also drift out of calibration: in 2024, the Knox County, Illinois, clerk said a touch-screen machine that failed to reflect a voter's choice was "more than likely a calibration issue with that machine," recalibrated it, and took it out of service when the problem returned, PolitiFact reported, adding that votes cast on it earlier were stored on a memory card and counted. A ballot marking device lets a voter mark a ballot on a touch screen, then prints it, and the printed ballot goes into a ballot box or scanner; the machines do not store or tally votes, the U.S. Election Assistance Commission says. Goins described three checks on the equipment used in Davidson and Williamson counties: the selection screen, where the touched name should light up green, a review screen showing every selection, and the paper ballot, which he said is what is counted. "The votes aren't being counted on the screen... They're actually being counted on that paper ballot that's going in the scanner," Goins said. The Secretary of State's office asks voters who see a mismatch to alert a poll official before they cast the ballot, so a voter who wants their voice heard can compare the printed ballot with the choices they made, and ask for help if they do not match.
