Some Springfield voters experience machine problems at polling locations

SPRINGFIELD, MA (WGGB/WSHM) - Western Mass News is getting answers after viewers reached out to our newsroom with ballot machine problems at their polling places in Springfield.

At Central High School, poll workers told us that the ballot machine had a faulty battery, which stopped them from counting votes this morning. The decision was made to have voters place their ballots at the bottom of the ballot machine to be counted later.

We have learned the ballot machine was fixed a little later in the morning and the ballots placed at the bottom of the machine were then scanned by the machine to be counted.

The second problem we were told about happened at Van Sickle Junior High. Poll workers told Western Mass News that one of their machines ran into a paper jam problem, which stopped ballots from being counted for a short period of time. We have learned that poll workers quickly identified and solved the problem within minutes. They described it as a “minor inconvenience.”

The third polling place with issues reported by viewers was at the Boys and Girls Club. Poll workers told Western Mass News that they were dealing with an influx of voters first thing in the morning when they were still setting up the machines. This caused a backup of people having to wait in line outside the building until everything was set. They said since then, voting has run at a steady pace.

There is good news. After traveling to all these polling locations this afternoon, voters told us as they were exiting the polls that everything was operating smoothly and didn’t express any issues with the voting process.

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