An apparatus for detecting printed circuit board (“PCB”) design violations includes an analysis module that analyzes a position of a trace on a PCB design to determine conductivity of a design material over which the trace is being added and/or an electrical property of the trace at the position. The apparatus further includes an identification module that identifies, in real time, a void violation on the PCB design in response to the design material including a non-conductive material and/or a reference voltage violation on the PCB design in response to the position including a voltage and a notification module that notifies a user of the void violation and/or the reference voltage violation. At least a portion of said modules include hardware circuits, a programmable hardware device, and/or executable code stored on one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media.