Problems scanning ballots in a Pennsylvania county led to delays and confusion among voters on Election Day, leading some to speculate about possible voter fraud.

County and state officials confirmed on election day That morning, vote tabulation machines in Cambria County, Pennsylvania, were unable to scan ballots due to technical problems. Later in the afternoon, county officials said the problem was caused by an error in printing the ballots, which made them unreadable by tabulators, according to the local NBC affiliate. WJAC-TV.

The problem was corrected Tuesday afternoon, WJAC reported, and polling places across the county received new ballots that could be tabulated and processed by the machines.

Before the problem was resolved, voters could still fill out paper ballots and cast them securely.

Ballots cast before the issue is resolved will be counted by hand, Cambria County Attorney Ron Repak told WJAC. Voters who used an electronic ballot marking device, rather than filling out a paper ballot, also had no problem voting, local officials said.

That concern led some social media users to claim the delays were evidence of voter fraud. A Message said, “Election theft is happening,” highlighting the reported problems.

The Pennsylvania Department of State wrote November 5 on X, he was aware of the problems and worked to resolve them. The department said voters still cast ballots on paper.

“The Department of State is in contact with Cambria County officials,” Pennsylvania Department of State spokesperson Amy Gulli told PolitiFact. “Voters continue to vote by paper ballot, consistent with normal operations, while the county addresses the issue through digitization at precincts.”

With more than 3,000 counties in the United States, each with different systems for recording and counting votes, technical problems sometimes arise. But there is no evidence that the problems are evidence of “election theft,” as some social media users have claimed.

About 69,800 people voted in Cambria County in 2020which former President Donald Trump won by 37 percentage points. The county, about 60 miles east of Pittsburgh, has a population of approximately 133,500.

A Pennsylvania judge approved a petition of the Cambria County Board of Elections to extend voting by two hours, until 10 p.m., because of the problems. The extension applies only to Cambria County.

The malfunction “caused confusion among voters, long lines of voters and many people leaving polling places without voting,” according to the petition.

Repak said in a Nov. 5 statement that votes cast during the period when tabulation machines were down were accepted, stored and counted securely. DMJA reported.

“There is a process in place for issues of this nature,” Repak said. “All completed ballots will be accepted, secured and counted by the Board of Elections.”

Cambria County uses voting systems of Election Systems & Software, known as ES&S, one of five approved vendors in the state.

Before the issue was resolved, ES&S spokesperson Katina Granger told PolitiFact that the company was working with the county to fix it. Granger described the scanning problem as stemming from a “problem with the printed ballot.”

“This morning, after manually marking their ballot, voters were asked to place their ballot in the auxiliary bin of the ballot box,” Granger said. “These ballots will all be counted after the polls close.”

Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley in a Message encouraged affected voters to line up, complete and return their ballots. The Republican Party of Pennsylvania stepped in to support the county’s petition to extend voting hours, according to a press release from the Republican National Committee.

Problems with Cambria County’s tabulating machine caused delays and confusion at voting sites, but ballots were still being accepted and the voting deadline was extended. Local officials are bracing for technical glitches and said all ballots will be counted. There was no indication that the errors were an intentional attempt to suppress votes.

We believe the assertion that the problems were evidence of “theft” is false.