Ah, sweet Indiana. I knew you would not fail me on this day.
Voters in Delaware County found casting a ballot Tuesday far from easy. Some couldn't vote at all in what's being described as a total breakdown in the county's voting system.
Poll workers, voters and candidates were all ready for Election Day, but electronic voting machines were not.
"By five after six the phones were ringing off the hook and we knew we had a major problem," said Karen Wenger, Delaware County clerk.
The problem: plastic cards that are supposed to activate voting machines across Delaware County were programmed with the wrong code. At some polling places, voting machines were down for hours. The result was some voters being turned away without casting a ballot.
By mid-morning, the issue was in court. Election officials asked a judge to extend Delaware County's voting hours and the judge agreed. "It's my best judgment that I'm going to do everything I can to help people vote," the judge said.
So who's responsible for all these problems? The county says it's a company called Microvote, which put the wrong code in the county's access cards. A Microvote spokesman said he didn't have time to talk with Eyewitness News.
"I'd rather not. I have to go across the street," said bill Haas.
County officials say they do want answers. "There is no reason why they could not check those machines yesterday and know they weren't going to work and they could have been fixed and this would have been avoided," said the judge. "Somebody lost their right to vote. It disturbs me greatly."
"Apologies are not good enough right now. If any voter had been disenfranchised, we have a problem," said Wenger.
Because of the problem, all polling places in Delaware County will be open until 8:40 pm.
The county clerk says she is angry and brokenhearted that all this has happened, and she is praying that anyone who was turned away earlier today will come back and vote.
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