Raleigh, N.C. - A federal judge in North Carolina ruled Saturday that voters must be warned touch-screen voting machines are sensitive and poll workers will need to keep detailed records of complaints about the machines during next week's elections. The temporary order issued by Judge Malcolm Howard stemmed from a lawsuit filed by the state Republican Party against the State Board of Elections a day earlier.
The GOP lawsuit alleges touch-screen machines were thwarting voters trying to cast early ballots for Republican candidates. Republican officials contend that during early voting, which ended Saturday, some voters saw machines switch their selections from GOP candidates to Democrats.
``We applaud the decision made today, which will ensure votes are tabulated accurately and protect the integrity of this election,'' Republican Party Chairman Tom Fetzer said in a statement Saturday night.
Messages left late Saturday for officials with the elections board were not immediately returned.
Board officials have disputed the Republican claims, saying the lawsuit was intended to erode voter confidence and any issues during early voting were isolated and quickly fixed.
Thirty-five counties use the machines for one-stop voting and 23 use them on Election Day. Voters head to polls on Tuesday.
In his order, Howard requires that poll workers put up signs warning that the machines are sensitive and that voters should carefully review the summaries of their ballots that are shown after all selections are made. He also ordered that all records associated with the machines be preserved.
In a letter to Republicans on Thursday, state elections board executive director Gary Bartlett said touch-screen voting machines already tell every voter to review his or her ballot for mistakes before it is entered. Federal law already requires data from the machines to be saved for nearly two years, he said, and precinct officials are directed to keep incident reports.
The GOP appeared to be trying ``to elevate isolated occurrences with touch screen voting equipment into a crisis of confidence in the integrity of the election,'' Bartlett said in the letter. ``The concerns you have expressed are no different than ones that must be addressed in every election.''