That viral ‘rigged’ voting machine video was actually just user error

Another video being passed around on Twitter has lit the fuse under claims of a “rigged” election, as a voter repeatedly tries – and fails – to vote for Trump. No matter how hard Adonis Bravo (not his real name) pushes, the machine won’t change from a vote for Clinton.

The video has picked up almost 9,000 retweets after six hours online, and published by a number of blogs and websites as suspicious or as evidence of fraud. But the machine is working exactly as it should.

Polling stations in Philadelphia, where Bravo filmed the clip, use a Danaher Shouptronic voting machine. An instructional video on YouTube shows users need to re-press any button to cancel their selection, before making their choice again.

So, if Bravo had pressed the button for Trump and then tried to change to Clinton, he would have to deselect Trump first.

Bravo said in an interview that he reported the issue to the supervising staff at his polling station, “who pressed a couple of buttons to reset the whole thing.” He then made his preferred choice for president without issue.

“I don’t think it’s concrete evidence,” of electoral fraud or foul play, he said, but it “adds some insight into how people come to those conclusions.”

--Alastair Reid, First Draft News