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Prior to the general election this year, problems arose in Texas whereby voters who opted to cast straight-party tickets on electronic voting machines were losing their presidential votes when they touched their presidential candidate's name after selecting the straight-party option.

That issue has raised a new controversy in Dallas County because of how this action of voters is interpreted differently if the voters vote on a paper ballot or an electronic machine.

Let me explain.

When a voter opts to vote a straight-party ticket on an electronic machine, he or she touches a button indicating the choice, and the machine automatically selects every candidate from that party in each race. But a problem arose in Texas this year because prior to the election many Democratic voters received a misleading e-mail that told them that if they voted the straight-party option, the machine would record all of their choices except one in the presidential race. Voters were instructed to specifically touch their presidential candidate's name after they'd selected the straight-party option to ensure that their presidential vote was recorded.

The problem with this is that the e-mail was wrong. A straight-party vote on a touch-screen machine did record a vote in the presidential race. Any voters in Texas who followed the e-mail instruction wound up erasing their vote in the presidential race because touching a candidate's name that had already been selected on a straight-party ticket de-selected the candidate's name.

Touch-screen machines are programmed to do this so that voters have the option of voting a straight-party ticket on most races, then casting a cross-over vote in selected races for a candidate from a different party.

But the issue has raised an interesting dilemma in Dallas County where a recount of a close race is underway. The race involves a seat in the state House of Representatives and could decide whether Republicans or Democrats control the state legislative body. The Republican incumbent currently leads the Democratic challenger by only 20 votes.

Apparently, some voters who voted straight-party tickets also touched their candidate's name in the state House race after they selected the straight-party ticket, to emphasize their choice and make sure the machine recorded their vote in that race.

Voters do this all the time on paper ballots. They'll fill in an oval indicating they want to vote a straight-party ticket then fill in the individual candidate's oval as well to emphasize their choice and ensure that officials have no question about their intent.

But, as I mentioned, when voters do this on electronic machines, instead of adding emphasis to their choice, they inadvertently delete their choice.

The Texas secretary of state's office has said that a de-selected vote on a straight-party ballot should not be counted. The state Democratic party, however, has filed a lawsuit saying that these votes should be counted since the voter's intent is clear and would be counted if the voter performed the same action on a paper ballot.

It's likely the Democrats will lose in this case since it's impossible to know if a voter truly intended to de-select the candidate and cast no vote in the race or if he intended to emphasize the candidate and inadvertently deleted the vote instead. Either way, however, it's interesting that a voting machine feature that is designed to give a voter more flexibility in making candidate choices has possibly thwarted voters' choices in this case.

See also:

• Texas Voters Urged to Avoid Straight-Party Option After Vote-Flip Complaints

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