Lubbock County election results were delayed on Tuesday by a machine malfunction at one early voting location, required ballot rescans and a shortage of poll workers, Elections Administrator Troy Havard said. Forty percent of registered county voters cast ballots during early voting. Election workers spotted the error at that location on Oct. 22 and replaced the machine. The problem happened again at the same location. Havard said, "At this point, I'm not even sure exactly how this happened."
Havard said state law limits what his office can do with early voting ballots and the drives that hold the votes. His office rescanned every ballot from that location, 5,681 in all. The Secretary of State's Legal Division also told the office to rescan all 1,700 limited ballots cast during early voting. A central count judge and an alternate judge reviewed each one. Havard said the work added up to late results. He said the audit process found the issue and resolved it.
Polls closed at 7 p.m., but some locations stayed open until about 9 p.m. to serve people still in line. Havard said some volunteers and an election worker quit before Election Day. He said the parties and his office worked to recruit more poll workers, and he said the shortage would result in longer lines at polling locations.