Michigan secretary of state warns of issues with certain Dominion voting machines

The Michigan secretary of state's office announced that the Michigan Bureau of Elections found an issue with Dominion ICX Voter Assist Terminals (VATs).

Last Friday, the secretary of state's office noted the issue with the devices that voters with disabilities use to mark their ballots. After marking the ballot with the VAT, the voter prints the ballot, then puts it in a tabulator.

"Because of this programming issue, voters using Dominion ICX VATs will have to select either the 'straight party' option if they wish to vote straight ticket or vote for each race on the partisan selection of the ballot if they wish to split their ticket," according to the secretary of state's office. "While this is the process used in some other states, it is not the standard in Michigan, where voters have the option to vote straight party but then override their party selection for individual races.

"If a voter using the Dominion VAT votes straight party but then splits their ticket, the voter will receive an error message. The voter will need to go back and de-select their straight-party selection and vote for candidates in the races individually or vote straight party without splitting their ticket. As is always the case, the VAT will allow voters to review their selections before printing the ballot."

The programming issue cannot be fixed ahead of the election but it will not prevent people from choosing who they want to vote for nor change their vote.

“Yeah, this is a nationwide issue with Dominion voter access terminals in the counties that use them in the voter access terminals,” Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson (D) said Monday, according to WLNS. “Of course, not all the machines, just the ones that are accessible, have an issue. With the straight-party voting and a programming issue, that’s again affected the machines nationwide.”

“I think all of us who used Dominion machines were unhappy to learn about this during the testing period and as early voting began, so we’re working with Dominion to seek accountability on that front, and also are working with our clerks to ensure voters are aware of this programming issue that will require them to ensure they are voting every section on the ballot,” Benson added.