El Paso voters describe confusion, delays after check-in issues

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) -- As polls opened Tuesday across El Paso County, voter check-in devices, known as poll pads, experienced technical issues at some locations, according to the El Paso County Elections Department.

As of just after 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, the Elections Department says all voting centers should have the check-in software fully restored.

The issue affected the electronic tablets used to check in voters, but did not impact the machines used to cast ballots, officials said. All voting machines remain fully functional and voters are still able to cast ballots at every location.

For sites where poll pads were not working earlier, election workers began manually checking in voters by writing down their names and verifying identification.

Voters are encouraged to check estimated wait times before heading to a voting site by visiting the county elections website.

An El Paso voter who declined to give his name said the manual process raised concerns for him.

“They never asked for my voter ID card, just asked for my ID, which I gave them, but then rather than checking it in, they’re writing names down on a tablet to confirm that this person’s voting,” he said. “That doesn’t seem very secure to me. It should be some computer database, and as you vote, you’re checked off the list.”

The voter said the process itself was quick and the location was not crowded, but questioned why the issue surfaced on Election Day.

“They should have all this worked out well before Election Day,” he said. “This shouldn’t be something that pops up.”

David Rollins said he arrived early to vote and initially saw people being turned away.

“Basically, they turned people away saying that the voter registration machines were down and that they weren’t able to take people’s ballot,” David Rollins said.

Rollins said he contacted the elections department after noticing the issue. He said he saw between 20 and 25 people leave before workers began manually recording voter information.

“People are just being discouraged and getting turned away,” Rollins said. “Now they have clear instructions, they’re taking them down manually. They should have worked a little harder at trying to figure that out at the beginning so no one would be turned away.”

Celeste Lopez, a Northeast El Paso voter, said she encountered a more complicated process than in previous elections.

“Usually, I just give my ID, and they print off my ballot with some preset information, and right now they’re not able to do that,” Lopez said. “They had to have someone come and stand at the kiosk and say, OK, this is what we’re pressing here.”

Lopez said the atmosphere inside the voting site felt tense.

“It's even more worrying to know that people are leaving because they can’t fix the issue,” Lopez said. “People have work, they have kids. When they show up at specific times, it’s for a reason.”

Despite her concerns, Lopez said she remains committed to the Borderland.

“I love El Paso,” Lopez said. “I want to see us do well, and so when issues like this happen, it doesn’t bode well.”