The Indiana Secretary of State’s office is investigating Election Day delays at the polls in seven counties, including Johnson County.
The first half of Election Day saw issues with electronic polling books, which are used to check voters in and match them to the right ballot, that caused delays at the county’s 20 voting centers.
“The Secretary of State’s office is looking into issues with electronic pollbooks in Johnson County on Election Day,” Indiana Secretary of State Deputy Chief of Staff Valerie Warycha wrote in an emailed statement. “We are currently gathering information and conducting interviews with the parties involved to determine the root cause of the problem.”
Lines were brought to a standstill after 9 a.m., when the county’s electronic pollbook software slowed down significantly, which left some people waiting hours to cast their votes. Others left because of the time it took and may not have voted at all, despite the problem being resolved in the early afternoon.
Election Day issues stemmed from the servers of Omaha, Nebraska-based Election Systems & Software, the county’s election voting system provider, being overwhelmed by voter turnout nationwide. The county had similar problems, though not to the same degree, during the primary in May.
Johnson County Clerk Sue Anne Misiniec could not be reached for comment for the story.
Ball State University’s Voter System Technical Oversight Program will lead the Secretary of State office’s investigation. Its directors declined to comment, deferring to Warycha as a matter of practice.
ES&S services more than 3,000 jurisdictions in the U.S., including 17 in Indiana. Nine counties in Indiana have the same package of firmware and software as Johnson County, according to Indiana Election Division records.
Of the 17 counties using ES&S’s services in the state, four had problems that are being investigated by the Secretary of State’s office. The three other counties under investigation use a different version of the provider’s Unity bundle.
“ES&S looks forward to fully cooperating with the Indiana Secretary of State’s office,” company spokesperson Teresa Paulsen wrote in an emailed statement. “We again apologize to voters and to election officials in the counties in Indiana where a pollbook issue during the first part of Election Day caused longer wait times than normal.”
“While the issue was resolved on Election Day,” Paulsen’s email continued, “we know some wait times were not acceptable and we look forward to answering any questions regarding the situation.”
After the election, the mayors of Franklin and Greenwood called for Johnson County to hold the company accountable or find another vendor.
The county was set to pay ES&S the second of two $53,000 payments for its services in 2018 after Election Day, but county officials have withheld that payment while they discuss a potential discount with the company. The contract with ES&S, which has been Johnson County’s voting systems provider for several years, extends through November 2019.
Originally published in Southside Times, 2018. Republished here for archival and portfolio purposes.