JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Tuesday's primary election in Jacksonville did not go off without a hitch. Hogan said some ballot forms were made a bit too wide and couldn't fit in the voting machines.
Voters were reporting the problem from a number of precincts, including 2, 107 and 513.
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Elections staff had to trim the ballots that were a tad too wide or have voters submit their ballots into the emergency bins, which will be counted later on Tuesday.
"You always want to have a backup plan but you never want to have to use it," said Hogan.
He said the ballots were printed by ESS, the same company that manufactured the ballot tabulators, and that random tests were done prior to election day without a problem.
Hogan said he isn't sure how many precincts had the issue but said at least three or four were affected by the ballot paper issue. He added that it seems to be isolated to nonpartisan or NPA ballots.
Hogan said any ballots too wide to fit in the tabulators will be placed in locked emergency bins that will be taken to the supervisor of elections office to be counted by their high-speed tabulators.
Despite the ballot issue, Hogan said, "Every vote will count."
Hogan had predicted a 30 percent voter turnout early on, but has lowered that expectation to 24 percent for Jacksonville.