CHESAPEAKE, Va. — A voting machine issue at a Chesapeake polling place on Election Day left some voters frustrated and questioning whether their ballots would be counted.
The issue happened Tuesday at the YMCA on Taylor Road in the Western Branch area of Chesapeake, where voters were told a voting machine had stopped working and a replacement was being sent to the precinct.
Chesapeake election officials told News 3 that voters could place their completed ballots into a secure emergency ballot box while waiting for the replacement machine to arrive.
Those ballots would then be fed into the new machine once it arrived, according to the Chesapeake registrar's office.
But for some voters, the situation raised concerns about the security of their ballots and whether their votes would ultimately count.
Shevelle Wilkins, a longtime Chesapeake resident, told News 3 she went to the YMCA on Tuesday expecting to cast her ballot like she had in previous elections.
Instead, she said she and other voters were informed that the voting system was down.
Wilkins said a worker explained that voters had two options: wait for a replacement machine or complete their paper ballots and place them in a box to be processed later.
According to Wilkins, the explanation did little to ease concerns among those waiting to vote.
"People are very upset, and they were just standing there saying, 'Well, how do we know if our vote going to be counted, right? And how do you know if you're gonna put it in that machine?'" Wilkins said. "And they just kept saying that we have to trust them."
Wilkins said she ultimately decided to place her ballot in the box but remained concerned about what would happen next.
"My vote counts, and I want my paper in that machine," she said. "So I didn't know what to do."
She told News 3 the experience was particularly emotional because of how seriously she takes her right to vote.
"I had tears in my eyes because I listen here. This means a lot to me. This is not a game. I'm not playing around about this. I need my vote to count," Wilkins said.
Wilkins said she contacted News 3 because she wanted answers about the process and reassurance that the ballots would be counted.
News 3 took Wilkins' concerns directly to Chesapeake election officials to find out what happened and how ballots were being handled.
The registrar's office confirmed that an emergency ballot box was available for voters affected by the machine issue.
Officials said the emergency box was secure and that ballots placed inside would be processed through a replacement voting machine.
The registrar's office said a new machine was being sent to the precinct, with the goal of getting it there before polls closed at 7 p.m. Tuesday.
However, at the time News 3 contacted election officials, there was no estimated arrival time for the replacement machine.
News 3 has not independently confirmed when the replacement machine arrived or whether all ballots placed in the emergency box have since been processed.
For Wilkins, the biggest concern was not simply the equipment malfunction but the uncertainty surrounding what would happen to her ballot.
She said she wanted to see the replacement machine arrive and know that the ballots collected during the outage were properly processed.
"Because I'm still standing here waiting for someone to pull up with the machine to make sure that all them votes went into that new machine," Wilkins told News 3 during the disruption.
She said the situation was unlike anything she had experienced during previous elections.
"This has never happened to me. So I don't know," she said.
While Chesapeake election officials outlined the process for securing and counting the affected ballots, questions remained about when the replacement equipment would arrive.
News 3 is continuing to seek updates on the machine issue and confirmation that the affected ballots were processed.
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