Election officials urge careful ballot review
By Delayna Earley and Shellie Murdaugh
The Island News
With the Nov. 3 general election approaching, voters in Beaufort and Jasper counties are reporting difficulty making their intended selections on voting touchscreens, while election officials are also working to counter misinformation circulating on social media about how ballots are handled and counted.
Some voters have described repeated attempts to correct highlighted choices before moving forward with their ballots, including instances in which selecting one candidate or political party appeared to highlight another.
The local accounts come as voters in Florida, Kansas, Ohio, Tennessee and Texas have reported similar touchscreen selection difficulties.
An Oct. 22 Associated Press report documented complaints in Kansas, Ohio, Tennessee and Texas alongside South Carolina.
In Florida, the Jacksonville Florida Times-Union reported Oct. 23 that Duval County’s elections supervisor had received four complaints as of Oct. 22. The report also described similar concerns in Palm Beach County. Duval’s supervisor attributed the difficulties to fingers or fingernails touching unintended areas of the screen.
In Texas, Bexar County Elections Administrator Michele Carew said in an Oct. 23 statement that her office was monitoring complaints and communicating with the voting machine manufacturer to determine whether action was needed, Texas Public Radio reported.
Voters describe selection problems
In an Oct. 22 statement, the South Carolina State Election Commission said it had not seen an unusual increase in reports of voting machine problems, but its updated guidance addressed a specific concern: Pressing the small box beside a candidate or party name can highlight the choice above it instead.
“Voters should push the large box with the candidate or party’s name in it,” the commission said in a statement circulated by Beaufort County election officials Oct. 22. “Pressing the little box on the left, can cause the box above the intended selection to be highlighted instead.”
Mary Jeans Otto said she encountered that difficulty while voting at the Bluffton Library.
Otto, who ran for the Beaufort County Council District 5 seat in the June 9 primary, told The Island News she tried to make a Democratic selection by pressing the small box beside it, but a Libertarian choice above it was highlighted instead.
In a recorded call to Beaufort County’s voter registration and elections office, Otto said the wrong choice appeared three times before she obtained her intended selection on a fourth attempt.
“Were you pressing the little box?” an employee answering the county call asked.
After Otto said yes, the employee explained: “You have to actually press the candidate’s name that you want because if you press the little box, it selects one above it.”
Otto said she believed she had followed the instructions and wanted officials to tell voters specifically where to touch the screen.
“They’re giving us bad instructions,” Otto said in her interview with The Island News. “Of course, people should check [their ballot]. That’s common sense.”
Other voters have described similar experiences.
In a local Facebook discussion, one voter reported that an attempt to select a straight-party ticket highlighted a different party instead. The voter wrote that repeated attempts to change the selection did not work and that the ballot was canceled and restarted.
Another commenter described an unintended straight-party selection that was corrected before proceeding. A third reported difficulty selecting intended answers to tax questions at the St. Helena library and said repeated attempts were needed to correct them.
Jasper County reports similar complaints
Early voting in Jasper County has also produced reports of touchscreen selection difficulties.
Jasper County Board of Elections and Voter Registration Director Jeanine Bostick said she had received at least three calls as of Oct. 23 from voters reporting problems with their selections.
“I did get some phone calls from at least three people who said they had that issue and we have made the state aware of it,” Bostick said.
Bostick encouraged voters to carefully review their selections before submitting their ballots, noting that the voting process provides opportunities to check choices before a vote is finalized.
“You have chances to review the ballot before it is submitted and a printed copy also shows the voters their selections before it is finalized,” she said.
The State Election Commission has emphasized the same precautions.
“We commonly receive some of these reports during elections, particularly statewide elections with high turnout,” the commission said. “We encourage all voters to be careful in making their selections and to review their ballot before it is cast.”
Officials address ballot misinformation
Separate from the touchscreen complaints, Beaufort County election officials have warned residents about misinformation circulating on social media regarding whether marks made by poll workers could invalidate ballots.
According to a statement released by Beaufort County, social media posts have falsely claimed that poll workers will write on voters’ ballots, causing those ballots to be disqualified.
County officials said those claims are not true.
While poll managers are not permitted to write on or make marks on a voter’s ballot, officials emphasized that an accidental mark would not automatically invalidate it.
According to the county, the voting system would still scan the ballot, and the voter’s selections would be counted according to established election procedures.
The Beaufort County Board of Voter Registration and Elections is encouraging residents to be cautious about election-related information shared on social media and to rely on official sources when questions arise about voting procedures.
What voters should know before casting a ballot
South Carolina uses ballot-marking devices that allow voters to make selections electronically before printing a paper ballot.
That paper ballot is then inserted into a separate scanner for counting. The paper ballots are retained for verification and audits, according to the State Election Commission.
Election officials advise voters to review their choices on the touchscreen before printing their ballots and then check the printed version before inserting it into the scanner.
If a printed ballot contains an incorrect selection, voters should notify a poll manager so the ballot can be spoiled and replaced.
Once a ballot has been cast in the scanner, it cannot be changed.
Voters experiencing difficulty with a ballot-marking device should ask a poll manager for assistance before casting their ballot.
The commission’s updated guidance also advises voters to press the larger box containing the candidate’s or party’s name rather than the smaller selection box beside it.
Although election officials have acknowledged receiving reports of unintended selections, the statements reviewed do not establish that votes were changed after ballots were cast or that the reported touchscreen difficulties resulted in incorrectly counted votes.
Voters seeking additional information about South Carolina’s election procedures can visit scVOTES.gov or contact their local elections office.
The general election is Tuesday, Nov. 3.
Delayna Earley, who joined The Island News in 2022, formerly worked as a photojournalist for The Island Packet/The Beaufort Gazette, as well as newspapers in Indiana and Virginia. She can be reached at delayna.theislandnews@gmail.com.
Shellie Murdaugh, who joined The Island News in October 2026, formerly worked as a reporter for The Jasper County Sun Times and Bluffton Today. She also worked for newspapers in Hampton and Colleton counties in South Carolina and in North Carolina at The Richmond County Daily Journal. She can be reached at shelliemurdaugh@gmail.com.