Early voting runs through Thursday, Oct. 29, and Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 3. Over the past week, voters in Middle Tennessee have gone on camera to say a touchscreen voting machine lit up a candidate they did not tap. State and county election officials say the machines are working and the mismatches trace back to accidental touches. Either way, it highlights the importance of checking your paper ballot before it’s scanned.
The complaints reported in detail come from Williamson and Davidson counties, where voters use a touchscreen ballot‑marking device that prints a paper ballot. WSMV first reported on Oct. 20 that Jackie Herrud, voting at the Longview Recreation Center in Spring Hill, kept pressing one candidate for governor and watched the screen return to the other. Toni Fitzgerald described the same thing at another Williamson County site and said it took several pushes before her choice registered.1 By Oct. 21, WSMV said dozens of voters in the two counties had reported a similar mismatch,2 and the Tennessee Lookout reported Monday that voters had to press the correct name two or three times before confirming.3
While the overwhelming majority of the complaints have reported that votes for Green were initially marked for Blackburn, in every reported case, the voter noticed the wrong name on screen and corrected it before the ballot went into the scanner. No one has reported a ballot counted for the wrong candidate, but this does not rule out the possibility of any incorrect ballots being cast without being caught.
This is not the first time voting machines have caused issues with Tennessee elections. During early voting in October 2024, Shelby County voters made the same complaint. The election commission received three direct complaints, found no equipment malfunction, and said voters had tapped the small box in the corner of the candidate’s cell instead of the name. PolitiFact rated the viral claim that machines were swapping votes “Pants on Fire.”4
Shelby County did have a confirmed machine problem this year, of a different kind. During early voting for the Aug. 6 primary, one machine at a Bartlett church was missing four judicial races, and about 307 voters used it before the error was caught; officials attributed it to human error.5 It is a reminder that checking your ballot means checking that every race you expect is there, not just that the right names are marked.
Tennessee is not alone. The Associated Press reported Oct. 22 that the same complaints are coming in from Kansas, Ohio, South Carolina and Texas. None of which came as a surprise, because officials field similar complaints every year. Officials told the AP the problems almost always trace to user error or a touchscreen that needs recalibrating, that complaint volume is no higher than in past years, and that most jurisdictions hand‑count a sample of paper ballots after the election.
Among the Tennesseans who went public was Stella Parton, Dolly Parton’s sister, who wrote on Facebook that she had to go back three times to correct her vote at a polling place near Nashville.6
Tennessee Coordinator of Elections Mark Goins says the machines are not flipping votes. In an Oct. 21 interview with WSMV, he said every case his office has examined traced back to an unintended touch, often one the voter did not notice; a fingernail landing near the top edge of one box can register in the box above it. When an issue is reported, his office sends one Republican and one Democratic technician to examine the equipment, and he said he has never seen a machine act on its own.2
The touchscreen does not store a vote. The paper it prints is what the scanner tallies, so a wrong vote would have to get past the selection screen, the review screen, the printed ballot and the voter’s own eyes before it counted.2
The Secretary of State’s office said it had received one complaint of this kind out of roughly 400,000 ballots cast as of Oct. 20.1 Spokesperson Ben Hill told the Lookout the office takes every complaint seriously, and urged voters to use all three verification steps and to tell a poll official immediately if something looks wrong.3
Both counties have made small changes. Williamson County now offers styluses at every polling place, and its administrator said all equipment went through logic‑and‑accuracy testing by Republican and Democratic representatives before the election.3 Davidson County brought back the coffee stirrers it handed out in 2024; you have to ask for one.2
State Sen. Heidi Campbell, a Nashville Democrat, told the Lookout she believes the problem is user error, not foul play, but that it needs to be addressed after this election.3 Both major candidates for governor, Republican Marsha Blackburn and Democrat Jerri Green, urged voters who see an irregularity to report it to their local election commission.7
Blount County has received no complaints of this kind, according to Administrator of Elections Moe Click. Asked by Let’s Be Blount whether his office had heard from voters about ballots being filled out incorrectly, Click said the complaints he is aware of came from a couple of counties in Middle and West Tennessee.
Click pointed out that Blount County does not use the same voting equipment as those counties, while adding that he trusts those machines as much as he trusts ours. He noted that the complainants were all able to correct the issue before their votes were tabulated.
On what the county is doing this election, Click said the machines were thoroughly tested and securely sealed before going to the polling places, and poll workers have been trained to help any voter with concerns. “Also, the voting machines provide multiple ways to check and recheck your ballot before placing it into the tabulation scanner,” he said. His office, he added, understands the complaint and knows what to look for.
What Blount County uses. The Secretary of State’s list of voting systems by county shows Blount County on the Hart InterCivic Verity Duo.8 The Duo is a touchscreen ballot‑marking device with a built‑in printer. After check‑in, a poll worker gives you a random five‑digit access code; you enter it, make your selections on screen, review them on a summary page and press Print. It prints your choices in plain text and stores nothing. You carry the printout to a separate scanner, which reads the same words you can read, with no barcodes or QR codes, and casts the ballot.9 The machines are not connected to the internet, Wi‑Fi or the county network.10
Davidson County uses a different vendor’s touchscreen, the ES&S ExpressVote,6,11 so the “green box” advice circulating out of Nashville does not translate word for word here. The principle is the same: the paper is what counts, so read it before you scan it.
You get four checkpoints on Blount County’s machines, and only the last one counts.
If you vote absentee by mail. Mailed ballots are counted on an optical scanner.10 Fill each oval completely, no check marks or X’s, and follow the signature instructions on the envelope exactly.
Say something before you scan. Once the paper goes into the scanner, the ballot is cast and anonymous, and no one can pull it back out.
Where and when to vote. Early voting ends Thursday, Oct. 29, and any registered Blount County voter can use any early voting site.
| Early voting site | Address | Hours through Oct. 29 |
|---|---|---|
| Blount County Public Library | 508 N. Cusick St., Maryville | Mon – Fri: 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sat: 8 a.m. – 2 p.m. |
| Blount County Operations Center | 1227 McArthur Rd., Maryville | Mon – Fri: 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sat: 8 a.m. – 2 p.m. |
| Providence Baptist Church annex | 5766 Sevierville Rd., Seymour | Mon – Fri: 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. |
| Pellissippi State, Blount campus | 2731 W. Lamar Alexander Pkwy., Friendsville | Mon – Fri: 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. |
| Everett Recreation Center | 318 S. Everett High Rd., Maryville | Mon – Fri: 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. |
On Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 3, polls are open 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. and you must vote at your assigned precinct. Two precincts have moved: John Sevier voters go to the Maryville City Schools Central Office, 520 S. Washington St., and Maryville High School voters temporarily go to New Providence Presbyterian Church, 703 W. Broadway Ave. Look up your precinct here: https://tnmap.tn.gov/voterlookup/
