MELTDOWN

Palm Beach County Voting Machines Overheat, Forcing Recount to Restart

Around 175,000 early votes to be re-recounted.

Voting machines in Florida’s Palm Beach County have broken down due to overheating, causing the loss of more than a day’s work and forcing another recount of around 175,000 early votes. The county’s decade-old machines started giving incorrect totals due to the malfunctions, so the supervisor of elections decided to fly in mechanics and start again. “We’re disappointed by the mechanical problems that are going to cause a further delay in the recount,” said Susan Bucher. “It became evident through the vigorous pace of counting that the machines used for the recount were starting to get stressed.” Florida’s 67 counties were forced to recount the more than 8 million ballots because the results in three major elections—U.S. Senate, governor and agriculture commissioner—were separated by less than its 0.5 percentage point threshold. Leon County Circuit Judge Karen Gievers said she would grant an extension until Nov. 20 for Palm Beach County’s recount totals.

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