US Election day mishap: Google glitch shows polling sites for Harris, not Trump; Tech giant says issue 'fixed'

Google, on US Election Day, Nov 5 2024, acknowledged a technical glitch that surfaced when users searched for “Where can I vote for Harris,” triggering an interactive map showing polling locations, while similar searches for “Where can I vote for Trump” did not yield the same result.

The issue as per the world's leading search engine has been “fixed”. However, responding to Google's post on X (formerly Twitter), many users reported that they were still facing the issue.

What's causing this?

Google, in a post on X, explained that the issue arose because “Harris” is also the name of a county in Texas, leading the algorithm to display polling locations in response to these searches.

“Happens for 'Vance' too bc [because] it’s also the name of a county,” it added.

In its statement, the tech giant clarified that the situation was an unintentional occurrence and noted that only a limited number of users search for polling places in this specific way.

Interestingly, the interactive map also failed to open when users searched for “Where can I vote for Kamala,” suggesting that the trigger might be tied to the search term “Harris” and not necessarily to the Democratic Party nominee's name.

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The interactive map tool in question, as per the NY Pots appears to be provided by the Voter Information Project, a nonpartisan initiative under Democracy Works, which aims to improve voter engagement.

Netizens slam Google

Responding to Google's “This is now fixed” post, netizens slammed the tech giant for alleged “election interference,” with many questioning “Why was it that way to begin with?”

Other users remarked that the multi-million company “finally” fixed it “on election day”.

One user pointed out that it seems that Google was caught 'red-handed': “In other words, you got caught red-handed in one of your MANY election interference schemes and had to quickly 'fix' what you had broken on purpose to begin with.”

“No one believes a word out of you, Google. Not even yourselves,” they added.

(With inputs from agencies)