An Election Center app coded by Google to help citizens locate their assigned ballot boxes reportedly sent thosands of American voters to the wrong polling places.
According to a study conducted by a political technology company known as Aristotle, more than 700,000 households in 12 battleground states may have experienced serious polling station errors during the recent congressional midterm elections.
“If you’re being sent to the wrong polling place, it’s a pretty big deal,” Aristotle CEO John Phillips told Politico.
“[This is] especially [true] if it’s toward the end of the day, and especially if it’s an election that’s closely contested like 2010.
“[Yes], Google is a great company; they [generally] do things well. [But clearly], this is not one of them.”
For its part, Google confirmed the malfunction (on Tuesday), and said it was working “diligently” to resolve the problem to make sure the app “reflected the most up-to-date information provided to us by the board of elections.”
“Anyone who finds a discrepancy can report an error using the link provided at the bottom of the page,” said Google spokesperson Aaron Zamost.
