The D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics ruled that an electronic voting machine is the cause for thousands of "phantom" votes to appear in the results of the Sept. 9 D.C. Congressional and Council Primary election.
A cartridge from a machine in D.C.'s 141st voting precinct, located at the Frank D. Reeves Center on U Street, was to blame for the misreporting of thousands of write-in votes that officials said did not exist, according to The Washington Post.
The error initially caused invalid results in some high-profile races, including those for council members Jack Evans, D-Ward 2, and Carol Schwartz, R-At Large. This caused upheaval among candidates and their attorneys on the night of the elections, the Post reported.
Besides the computer miscount, there was a 12.8 percent voter turnout, according to reports by the Board of Elections.
In the election results, Schwartz, a longtime Republican council member, was defeated in an upset by Patrick Mara. Schwartz received 40 percent of the vote while Mara received 60 percent.
Eshan Ali, a junior in the School of Public Affairs who plans to use an absentee ballot to vote, said he was concerned a similar mistake could occur elsewhere during the Nov. 4 national general election.
"Every voter should be concerned and make sure their votes are counted," he said.
Abby Wihl, a junior in the School of Communication, said although she does not vote in D.C., she is concerned about the incident.
"I do not think D.C. is prepared for the November elections due to the inaccurate [ballot] reporting," she said.
Ali said she thinks it is important to reform the voting in D.C. before November.
"There definitely needs to be changes made in result of this adverse situation," she said. "Errors can't be a part of such an important election, I want to see D.C. make changes before November elections."
Council Chairman Vincent Gray, D, launched a special committee led by council member Mary Cheh, D-Ward 3, which will look into reports of unsubstantiated write-in votes and defective machinery, as well as examine the elections process and procedures, according to a Sept. 11 press release from Gray.
Doxie McCoy, communications director for Gray's office, said the special committee would look into solutions to ensure the problem doesn't occur again in November. It will also have subpoena powers to call witnesses to additional information.
Sequoia Voting Systems, the company that provides the District its voting machines, also launched its own investigation into the mishap. They claimed it was difficult to calculate problems from a single machine, but they ruled out the possibility of endemic hardware and software problems as the cause, according to a Sept. 11 press release from the company.
Cheh told the Post she issued the subpoena to Sequoia Voting Systems on behalf of the special committee in order to solve the "phantom" vote issue before the November elections.
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