Some Duval County early voters say ExpressVote touchscreen machines are not registering their intended selections, prompting Supervisor of Elections Jerry Holland to urge everyone to use the stylus provided at each device.

Action News Jax first reported Oct. 21 that voters described "stubborn" touchscreens that picked the wrong candidate or failed to respond, according to Folio Weekly. Holland told the outlet his office received a similar complaint. At the time, nearly 45,000 Duval residents had already cast early ballots.

Holland attributed the problem to finger placement, not machine malfunction. In an email to Snopes, he said fingertips and fingernails pressing near the edge of one candidate's box can trigger the selection above it. During a News4Jax demonstration on Oct. 23, Holland explained the fix: "Because the tip of my finger is right there, or my fingernail even right here, it will sometimes trigger the one ahead of it; that's why we instruct voters, do not use your finger, use this stylus."

Holland also told Snopes that no voter had reported actually submitting a ballot with incorrect selections.

The complaints do not amount to evidence of deliberate vote-switching. Snopes rated such claims as false, pointing to touchscreen sensitivity and human error as the likely causes. As of Oct. 22, Folio Weekly reported, no available reporting had established that election results were manipulated.

Beaches voters can take concrete steps to protect their ballots. The ExpressVote is a ballot-marking device, not a tabulator. It prints a paper ballot that the voter reviews before feeding it into a separate DS300 tabulation machine. If the printout shows an error, voters can return it and receive a replacement. Under Florida law, a voter may receive up to three ballots total. After inserting the final ballot, voters should wait for the confirmation message on the tabulator screen, according to Folio Weekly.

As of Oct. 26, the Duval County Supervisor of Elections office reported 123,938 combined early and mail-in votes cast, an 18.92% turnout. As we reported Oct. 24, the county had already surpassed 79,000 votes by that weekend.

Early voting runs through Sunday, Nov. 1. Hours are 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. through Friday, Oct. 30, then 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Oct. 31 and Nov. 1. The Jacksonville Beach early voting site is at the Community Center and Exhibit Hall, 2508 S. Beach Parkway. Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 3, with polls open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Whether the specific machines that drew complaints were inspected or recalibrated has not been publicly addressed. Florida requires counties to conduct post-election audits, including hand-counting one randomly selected race in 1% to 2% of precincts, according to Folio Weekly.