A $68 million electronic pollbook system which relies on being connected to the internet has malfunctioned in some New Jersey precincts.
“The problem is around the state,” Monmouth County Election Board Commissioner Eileen Kean told 101.5 New Jersey. “Yes we are having internet slowdowns and problems and we are working our way through it.”
The New Jersey Division of Elections downplayed the significance of mysterious malfunctions, saying any voters who didn’t want to wait in line, could simply cast a provisional ballot.
“Most of the state’s approximately 3400 polling locations have been operating since 6 a.m. without reported incident,” a spokesman told press.
The key failure in the system derived back to a network program called “Nighthawk”, which facilitated the use of tablet devices as a replacement for paper books.
In addition to the “internet problems”, a power outage caused voting to halt at two precincts located inside fire stations. JCP&L spokesman Christopher Hoenig said mischievous animals, not malicious actors, caused the problem, which started with a damaged breaker.