Polls across Jefferson County opened by 6 a.m. Tuesday, and some Louisville residents said it took them nearly an hour to vote. Some of those who woke up early to cast their ballots were met with technical difficulties with the voter check-in technology.
The technical issues “should resolve itself,” said Jefferson County Clerk Communications Director Ashley Tinius.
Tinius said the machines that check voter ID’s went through an update this morning, and some election officials had to restart the machines for them to work properly. She said the clerk’s office was not aware the updates would occur on Election Day.
“It's just like when you have a reboot or a restart on your computer at home, and you have to wait for it to cycle through,” Tinius said. “It will eventually start to work and go at a regular speed.”
The machine reboots cause some delays and several polling places, Tinius said.
“Jefferson county tablets are a disaster. Lines out the door at 6:30am. No backup protocol? Ridiculous,” one Louisville voter posted on X.
“I went to vote and the machines are not working. They estimated there would be a 30 minute wait. Are they going to extend the time 30 minutes?” another X user asked on the platform.
Jefferson County Technical College Professor Michael Shell said it took him over an hour to cast his ballot at Stopher Elementary in the Lake Forest neighborhood.
“I observed several folks leaving who could not be late to work,” Shell said in an email.
Tinius encouraged voters to be patient Tuesday morning, while election officials sort out the tech issues. She said it’s also helped for voters to know how they’ll cast their ballot once they arrive.
“Be patient, and just do your research,” Tinius said. “So when you get here and you get your ballot, you know how you want to vote on those constitutional amendments, because some of the voters may have not looked into those, and it's legal jargon and it's a long, long paragraph. If they know how they want to vote on those it would be helpful. It will help the line move quicker once they do get in.”
Kentucky Secretary of State Michael Adams posted on X that his office was aware of the problems and that they were working to get e-pollbooks operational in some locations. He estimated all issues would be resolved by 8:30 a.m.
This story will be updated.
