As 7 p.m. approached, signs of trouble emerged in what was a virtually glitch-free Election Day in Broward and Palm Beach counties — prompting behind-the-scenes scrambling, frustration from political insiders and concerns that conspiracy theories could erupt.
Shortly before the polls closed in Tuesday’s Democratic and Republican primaries and nonpartisan elections, the people most anxious to learn the results — candidates, political operatives, consultants and news reporters — started logging on to county elections offices websites.
When the polls close, ballots already tabulated from early voting and mail voting are normally posted immediately. Results weren’t showing up.
People started getting error messages as the outside vendor that hosts websites for almost all the 67 county supervisors of elections offices in Florida was overwhelmed. Broward Supervisor of Elections Joe Scott, who has an extensive technology background, said his understanding was that VR Systems’ servers couldn’t handle the onslaught of traffic from so many people trying to see the results at once.