Days after publicly declaring her intention to vote Democrat, Stella Parton is now claiming that her attempt to vote was nearly stymied by a voting machine that repeatedly flipped her vote to Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn.
The singer, younger sister of late country music icon Dolly Parton, took to social media to share her story.
‘More Frightened Than Angry’
“In Tennessee last week at the Hermitage Library where I voted, I had to go back three times and correct my vote because it kept defaulting to Marsha Blackburn,” Stella wrote on Facebook. “I would never vote for her for anything. I’m putting this out here because when we vote, we take it seriously but we try not to hold up the long lines. Do it anyway. Don’t let them rig this election.”
Stella added, “And we have people asking why we’re so angry.
I’m more frightened and frustrated than angry.”
In another addition to her post, she wrote, “This is so sad and heartbreaking but to think this is what it’s come to makes me angry for every good and innocent person in this country. To think people like Elon Musk and Russian bots may be upended another election makes my skin crawl. May they all die and worms eat them.”
Not An Isolated Incident
Curiously, Stella Parton has not been the only Tennessee voter to have that exact same experience.
With early voting underway in Tennessee, WMSV Nashville has reported that least two other voters — both in Tennessee’s Williamson County — have come forward to claim they watched their votes mysteriously flip from Democrat to Republican while voting.
“I kept punching for the Democrat, Jerri Green, and it kept punching back to Marsha Blackburn,” Jackie Herrud told the news outlet.
“It just really kind of irritated me, and then I was very nervous about making sure that my vote was going to be counted right.”
Herrud also WMSV that “she spoke with poll workers who had heard of similar complaints,” the outlet reported.
Another Williamson County voter, Toni Fitzgerald, shared that she’d experienced the same issue while voting at a different location in the county.
“You try to push the button for the candidate that you’re selecting, and it goes to another candidate,” Fitzgerald said, explaining that at first she believed she’d accidentally clicked the wrong button.
“Make sure you triple check, quadruple check to make sure that you’re selecting the right candidate,” Fitzgerald advised her fellow voters.
Widespread Issues
When The Tennessee Holler shared Herrud’s claims on Instagram, the post was met with multiple comments indicating that voters in Memphis were also experiencing that issue, in addition to claims that Texas voters had been sharing similar stories about voting machines flipping votes from Democrat to Republican in their state.
“Same thing as happening in Texas the voting machines are flipping the names after selection. This has been reported to the Democratic Party however, there has been no response no media and no resolve,” noted one comment.
“I had to force my vote about 5 times until it was right,” another comment stated.
Meanwhile, another comment observed that in these anecdotal reports, it was always Democrat votes flipped Republican, and not the other way around. “Funny how, EVERY instance Ive heard of this happening, it is votes flipped toward the Republican candidate,” that comment read.
Dolly Parton’s Sister Claims Voting Machine Flipped Her Ballot: ‘I Kept Punching for the Democrat’