Thirteen locations switched to emergency paper ballots after ballot-marking devices stopped accepting paper. Officials corrected the problem before voting resumed and extended hours to compensate for delays.
LUBBOCK, Texas — A security setting unintentionally activated during routine cleaning caused voting equipment to reject ballots across Lubbock County on the first day of early voting for the May 2 city and school elections.
The April 20 malfunction affected ballot-marking devices at 13 early-voting locations and created longer waits at six others. Election officials switched the affected sites to emergency paper-ballot procedures while working with equipment vendor Hart InterCivic and the Texas Secretary of State’s Office to identify the problem.
By the following evening, officials announced that the machines had been repaired and all polling locations were ready to reopen April 22. Polls had already been scheduled to remain closed April 21 for San Jacinto Day, giving technicians a full day to investigate without interrupting additional voting.
The problem involved the machines’ ability to accept ballot paper. Officials said their tests showed the election software was correct, and the reported malfunction did not involve machines changing votes or improperly tabulating completed ballots.
Voters encountered delays and rejected paper
Former Lubbock County Republican Party chair Steve Evans was among the voters who encountered confusion at the United Supermarkets location near 114th Street and Slide Road.
Evans told Lubbock Lights that a sheet of ballot paper would not feed into any of the available machines. He initially suspected that its thickness or waxy surface was responsible.
Lubbock County Elections Administrator Roxzine Stinson’s staff had the same suspicion. Workers replaced the new paper with sheets from an older supply, but the devices continued rejecting them.
Officials then changed cables, restarted machines and brought older equipment out of storage. Some devices worked, while others experienced the same failure. Equipment that could not be repaired at the polling sites was prepared for shipment to Hart InterCivic’s offices for examination.
The machines were purchased in 2017. Stinson said they were expected to remain operational for approximately 10 to 12 years and had performed properly during recent elections.
The county also tested the equipment before early voting began. David Bruegel, the current county Republican chair, reported seeing one machine jam during ballot testing about a week earlier, but the incident was initially treated as a maintenance problem limited to that device. When election employees conducted another test before voting began, the machines functioned correctly.
Thirteen sites used emergency ballots
County officials announced emergency procedures at the following locations:
- United Supermarkets on Parkway Drive
- Amigos Supermarket on North University Avenue
- United Supermarkets at 82nd Street and Boston Avenue
- Market Street at 50th Street and Indiana Avenue
- United Supermarkets near 130th Street and Indiana Avenue
- United Supermarkets at Fourth Street and Milwaukee Avenue
- Citizens Tower
- Idalou Clubhouse
- New Deal Clubhouse
- Roosevelt High School gymnasium
- Shallowater Clubhouse
- Slaton City Hall
- Texas Tech University Recreation Center
Six additional locations remained open with working machines, although the county warned voters to expect longer waits. Those included four Lubbock supermarkets, a Market Street location and Abernathy City Hall. The full list was included in the county announcement republished by KCBD.
At affected sites, voters marked yellow emergency ballots instead of using the ballot-marking devices. Stinson said sheriff’s deputies transported those ballots to the county elections office, where they were kept secure for processing by the early-voting ballot board.
Emergency ballots should not be confused with provisional ballots. A provisional ballot is generally used when a question exists about a voter’s eligibility. The emergency ballots were offered because the normal equipment was unavailable.
Texas law requires polling-place officials to stop using malfunctioning equipment and have it repaired or replaced when practical. Section 125.006 of the Texas Election Code provides the legal framework for removing defective voting equipment from service.
By late Monday afternoon, 361 people had checked in across the county’s early-voting sites. That figure represented total check-ins at the time—not the number of emergency ballots cast.
Routine cleaning activated an internal setting
The cause was eventually traced to the process used to clean the machines’ print rollers.
Election workers had run cleaning sheets through the devices as part of routine preparation. That action apparently activated a security toggle that prevented some machines from accepting ballot paper.
The devices did not display an error message identifying the setting. They simply refused to take the ballots, leading workers to test paper, software, cables and other equipment before finding the actual cause.
Once the setting was identified, workers could correct it on each affected machine. Stinson said the equipment had been cleaned previously without producing the same result.
Hart InterCivic documented the incident and began examining why the cleaning process activated the security setting without generating an error message, according to the county’s follow-up explanation.
County extends voting hours
Although the Tuesday closure was scheduled before the malfunction, county officials extended voting hours on four later days to compensate for Monday’s disruption.
Early-voting locations stayed open until 9 p.m. on April 22, April 23, April 27 and April 28. Officials said all locations were fully operational when voting resumed Wednesday.
The incident caused delays and frustration but activated the county’s backup process: malfunctioning machines were removed from service, voters were offered hand-marked emergency ballots, completed ballots remained under a documented chain of custody, and additional voting hours were provided once the equipment was restored.
