State and local election officials decided to switch to paper ballots in the city of Covington this morning because some electronic voting machines were listing both President Barack Obama and challenger Mitt Romney as Republicans, according to the state board of elections.

The problem was on the summary page — the last screen the voter sees before registering his or her vote. That screen identified both presidential tickets as Republican, said Don Palmer, the secretary of the state board of elections.

“Even though the votes would be tabulated correctly, the voters would see on their summary page that if they had voted for Obama it would say ‘Republican,’ and that was concerning for the voters,” Palmer said at a news briefing this afternoon.

Palmer said the state board of elections, Covington’s electoral board and the two political parties agreed to switch to paper ballots because of the confusion. So, since about 9:30 this morning, Covington voters have cast paper ballots that will have to be counted by hand after the polls close tonight.

– Michael Sluss