r/PoursTea • u/Federal-Compote-5015 • 5h ago

Law&CrimeTea ⚖️ 🫆 Multiple Reports of Voting Machines Flipping Votes to Republican Candidates Automatically

This isn’t just happening in Tennessee. There are reports of voters in other states experiencing touchscreen voting machines changing their selections from Democratic to Republican candidates.

Please check, double-check, and TRIPLE-CHECK your ballot before submitting it. Make sure every vote reflects your choice. If something looks wrong, alert a poll worker before casting your ballot.

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82

u/Diiagari 4h ago

Voting security experts have been telling Americans to use paper ballots with OCR scanners for decades now. This sort of thing is exactly why. The private companies pushing for these black box machines need to be ejected from the voting system.

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u/BlueWhatsit 4h ago

I live in New York. That’s how we do it.

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u/Easy-Bake-Oven 4h ago

I am noticing a pattern as to what states implement this level of security with voting.

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u/ProfNesbitt 4h ago

Same in NC. Paper ballot that is scanned in

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u/Madj59 4h ago

Paper ballots here in New Hampshire too

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u/BigInSheboyganGus 4h ago

I’m in NC. I used a digital machine but it created a paper ballot as I went along, I believe as a backup record.

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u/thegreatmattsby24 3h ago

Yep that’s the one we use in my county in NC. It prints the slip then you put it in The Tabulator I believe it’s called.

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u/Diiagari 3h ago

Yeah these are known as ballot marking devices and computer tabulators. They are better than direct recording devices, but they still have issues. If I’m auditing the election, and I doubt the electronic tabulator, then I can look at the print outs. But do those print outs reflect what the voter saw on the screen? Sure a voter can double-check their printout, but not all of them do. Does the tabulator represent the print outs accurately, or just the bar codes? It’s just better to have a real paper ballot that people fill out by hand (with BMDs available for those that can’t fill one out by hand).

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u/_probablyryan 4h ago

Same in PA

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u/InvisibleLLama22 4h ago

Same in CT

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u/pblol 4h ago

Same in a different county in TN. We used the have the dumb wheel thing and they got rid of it.

I've never used a touch screen. I could see how, intentionally or not, it could be poorly calibrated and fuck up.

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u/aenteus 3h ago

NH. 🎶This is how we do it baby🎶

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u/UnderstandingEasy856 4h ago

I don't understand the country's obsession with voting machines and gadgets of this sort. And this goes way back before the modern cyber/electronic era. Remember the punches and chads that led to Bush, and the Rube Goldberg contraptions full of levers and gears that preceded them?

Name one successful democracy that uses these opaque machines. People point to the complexity of the American ballot. But even the Swiss, originators of direct democracy and no strangers to endless propositions and measures, still use paper ballots manually counted by hand.

I'll tolerate OCR scanners and such, as they're merely counting aids that can be easily audited, and bypassed if necessary. But any computer screen, touch screen, or device where the voter signals their intention other than by marking it on a piece of paper should not even be contemplated.

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u/Beautiful-Musk-Ox 3h ago

the obsession is so they can rig elections, that's what's with this country's obsession with voting machines

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u/Diiagari 3h ago

Yeah fully agreed. Buttons and bar codes don’t make for a better system - they make for a worse one that’s harder to trust. OCR machines offer cheaper processing and quicker results, which are worthwhile goals for a voting system. But the most important element is that they are easily audited by human beings. If there’s concern about the legitimacy of a vote then it can be hand-tabulated with confidence that the voter marked the ballot as they intended.

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u/curtcolt95 3h ago

OCR tabulators are arguably the best way to do it because it allows for people to fix mistakes. Been working an election that uses them recently and have helped a few people who accidentally marked the wrong person or picked too many candidates for example. In a regular hand counted system those votes would have to be thrown out but when the machine catches it and they're still there you can issue them a new ballot

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u/JohnRoads88 3h ago

Yes paper ballots with OCR scanners in the ballot box to get a quick tally, followed by a manual count and a fine count over the following weeks.

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u/CheesecakeJolly8886 2h ago

Yep. I don't know how we became ok with black boxes in our voting system.

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u/WeNeedMikeTyson 2h ago

Because capitalism, it has to be done faster and cheaper.

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u/IzarkKiaTarj 1h ago

and the Rube Goldberg contraptions full of levers and gears that preceded them?

Oh shit I thought the Simpsons just did that because it was easier to make it obvious what was happening in animation or something, I didn't know there were actual levers

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u/Cat-si58 4h ago

Unfortunately, in Indiana many counties are using the same type of voting as TN. I am in a county that uses the paper ballots you can review and then feed into the machine at the end (ES&S Express Vote) voting. Interesting fact. My county is predominately democrat. Now, who protects your vote? Democrats!!!

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u/equality-_-7-2521 3h ago

Ya I remember when the first digital voting machines came about and all the tech experts did the rounds explaining why it was a terrible idea.

There's no benefit to digital voting unless you intend to cheat.

1

u/Inside7shadows 2h ago

Not true!

Who would you rather get a kickback from? A paper merchant, or a computer merchant? It's so much easier to launder money by paying for "software".

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u/TTheuns 4h ago

Wasn't there footage recently of a mail truck being emptied out, with voting ballots being thrown in the trash?

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u/Diiagari 4h ago

You’re likely referring to an incident in Utah, where a postal worker allegedly was so overworked that he dumped his entire load in frustration. The good news is that mail-in ballots can be easily tracked, so the affected voters could be notified that they would need to cure their ballot. In most states, voters can track the progress of their ballot and contact their election board if it is delayed.

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u/RIF_rr3dd1tt 3h ago

The good news is that mail-in ballots can be easily tracked, so the affected voters could be notified that they would need to cure their ballot.

Depending on the driver's route/area, they'll either fix this immediately or "get to it real soon".

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u/Distinct-Ad9252 4h ago

This is how it is in my county in California.

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u/Not-a-Bot_1968 4h ago

All of California does it this way … and then the ballots are retained for many years after, and can be checked to confirm vote counts, which is done by hand by groups of people watching to make sure it’s done correctly. 

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u/Chris_HitTheOver 4h ago

…need to be ejected from the voting system atmosphere.

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u/SaveLansingParks 3h ago

Paper ballots with OCRs in Michigan since as long as I can remember.

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u/Inmyrightbrain 2h ago

I live in Connecticut we use paper ballots and scanners

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u/Kerensky97 2h ago

Dominon with bought by a Republican election official.

https://www.spotlightpa.org/news/2025/10/dominion-voting-systems-sale-liberty-vote-election-security-elections/

And guess what company happens to be providing machines that happen to be flipping votes to Republican?

https://sos-tn-gov-files.tnsosfiles.com/forms/Voting%20Systems%20by%20County.pdf

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u/lowercasenameofmine 2h ago

Add to that: 

Trump Appointees Asked a Federal Cybersecurity Agency to Secretly Acquire a Voting Machine —  and Hack It 

And then not tell the manufacturer its vulnerabilities.... 

But 

The appointees wanted the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency to procure the machine, examine it and report back the findings so they could be given to the White House, according to two former administration officials with knowledge of the request. 

https://www.propublica.org/article/cisa-election-security-donald-trump 

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u/dqtx21 4h ago

Only defaulting to Republican???

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u/Tentegen 4h ago

Used here in Cincinnati~

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u/Biddyearlyman 3h ago

Paper ballots are still susceptible to Republican Ratfuckery. See the "Hanging Chad"...

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u/Diiagari 3h ago

Those are typically not considered paper ballots - they’re ballot marking machines. Yeah, they’re a problem. Auditors shouldn’t be divining whether the machine’s ballot actually reflects the voter’s intent.

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u/Biddyearlyman 3h ago

Yeah, I guess I'm just saying they will fight tooth and nail like a petulant 5 year old over "how full your circle was" etc. Try to throw out votes because the circle is missing  .1mm of black ink in it thus casting doubt on your decision. No strategy is too low for these fucking cockroaches.

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u/Diiagari 3h ago

Oh yeah that’s certainly true. At the end of the day, the validity of the results are going to rely on the efforts of the various election monitors who debate this sort of thing. They’re always looking for volunteers - particularly in the swing states.