Touchscreen

Ohio voters turned out in strong numbers on Election Day, with Cuyahoga County reporting turnout above 42% by mid-afternoon and smooth operations overall, though some ballot-scanning machines briefly jammed before being restored. Election officials cited long but variable wait times tied to a lengthy ballot.

In Medina County, a voter reported a ballot marking device appeared to switch their selection in the closely watched U.S. Senate race between Sherrod Brown and Jon Husted; officials attributed it to a likely touchscreen mis-tap rather than a system error, noting devices display selections for voter verification before printing. The affected station was briefly closed for inspection. Polls closed at 7:30 p.m. statewide.

Florida's 2026 midterm elections take place Nov. 3, with polls open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. statewide. Voters must present a current, valid photo ID with a signature; those without matching signatures need a secondary ID, and voters lacking acceptable ID or unverified registration may cast a provisional ballot, counted if documentation is supplied within two days. Mail-in ballots must reach election offices or drop boxes by 7 p.m. on Election Day, as postmarks no longer count. The registration deadline was Oct. 5.

In Ohio, voters cast ballots in a closely watched governor's race alongside all 99 state House seats and 17 state Senate seats; Cuyahoga County's 269 polling locations opened smoothly, with more than 1.73 million Ohioans having already voted early statewide. Georgia also held Election Day voting Nov. 3, with polls open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. and anyone in line by closing guaranteed a ballot. Georgians chose a U.S. senator, all 14 U.S. House members, governor, and other statewide and local offices, with unofficial results expected after polls close.

Georgia's Joint Election Equipment Specifications and Standards Committee, created by the legislature's Special Session Senate Resolution 3 EX and chaired by Sen. Max Burns and Rep. Victor Anderson, held its third meeting to evaluate requirements for the state's next election equipment, focused on hand-marked paper ballots produced via ballot-on-demand printing.

Secretary of state officials reviewed Georgia's voting system history since 2000, including 2005 touchscreen upgrades and 2006 electronic poll books. Cybersecurity experts, including Geoff Hale of the Center for Democracy and Technology and Michael Specter of Georgia Tech, testified that election infrastructure faces persistent cyber threats, though no confirmed vote-tally interference has occurred. Vendors and voting-integrity advocates, including Verified Voting's Mark Lindeman and Mojave Research's Jason Wareham, urged hand-marked paper ballots, independent security research access, and systems that "fail loudly" on errors, while preserving accessible ballot-marking devices for voters with disabilities.

Officials described the goal as a system that is easy to vote but hard to cheat, echoing Gov. Brian Kemp, with an aggressive timeline to get any new system to county officials for training ahead of future elections.