Elections in the News

Problem with ballot design in Ohio

Have a look at the following NPR story:

NPR’s Andrea Seabrook reports that first-time voters are causing a snag known as the “double bubble.” This is when a voter marks the circle next to a candidate’s name and also writes the candidate’s name in the section that says, “Write in Candidates.”

Some machines recognize this problem and allow election officials to manually determine voter intent. But in other instances, the voting machine negates the vote without notifying election officials. Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner has instructed election officials to count “double bubble” ballots by hand after unofficial results are announced Tuesday night.

Apparently, ballot design will also be an issue on this election.

Inés and Janell