AJC:

Georgia election officials said Saturday they found a programming error on the state’s voting touchscreens that caused a row of candidates in the 21-person U.S. Senate special election to disappear at times when flipping back and forth between screens.

The problem will require reprogramming the state’s 30,000 new touchscreens, called ballot-marking devices, about two weeks before in-person early voting begins Oct. 12.

The issue occurred in the U.S. Senate special election, which includes Republican U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler and U.S. Rep. Doug Collins, along with Democrats Raphael Warnock, Matt Lieberman and Ed Tarver.By Rocket Mortgage®Advertiser Content

To fit so many candidates on one screen, election officials had to divide the race into two columns, said Deputy Secretary of State Jordan Fuchs. She said that kind of ballot format isn’t standard, but it was easier for voters, and election officials wanted to ensure all candidates appeared together.