Albemarle County electoral staff to refeed 3,601 ballots after DS300 scanner failure

Albemarle County elections staff told the Electoral Board on April 9 that a DS300 optical‑scan unit used during in‑person absentee voting suffered a power distribution failure that later corrupted its drive, and that "there will be no results coming out of that machine." The office estimated roughly 3,601 ballots need to be reprocessed.

Staff said the defective unit had been secured, a technician replaced the failed power distribution component, and the machine is not producing tabulation output because of drive corruption. To obtain the counts, elections staff proposed feeding the ballots through a replacement scanner and documenting the process so that party observers can watch.

Board members and members of the public pressed staff on timing. Some urged performing the refeed in one continuous session, saying it would be "more exact," but others warned that doing it on the Monday immediately before the election risks leaving no recovery time if another failure occurs and could require using multiple spare machines and more staff. One board member said splitting the work across multiple days reduces the risk that newly cast early‑voting ballots would be mixed with the older ballots being reprocessed; another urged clear tape‑writing and signed witness logs to preserve chain of custody.

Elections staff said volunteers and non‑early‑voting personnel could be scheduled in two‑hour shifts and that they would post proposed dates and times for observers once a plan is decided. Staff also said they would clearly document the start and end points on the tabulation tape and repackage ballots in their original containers after processing to avoid confusion about which ballots had been fed.

The board expressed a clear sense that staff should complete the refeed before the Monday of the election period, but asked staff to propose multiple options that account for observer access, staff availability and statutory constraints. The office agreed to circulate proposed schedules to party representatives and to post information for authorized observers on the website rather than inviting general public attendance.

Next steps: elections staff will circulate a written schedule and procedural plan for the refeed, including who will be authorized to observe, how tapes will be signed and how ballots will be secured after processing. The board did not take a roll‑call vote on the exact schedule during the April 9 meeting.