WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. — Paper ballots would not go through the voting machines in Westchester County on Tuesday morning. At polling places all over the county the machines were rejecting the ballots — a problem with the paper ballots themselves, the Westchester County Board of Elections said.
Voting went on anyway. Voters were told to fill out their paper ballots as poll workers directed. The completed ballots went into designated orange emergency ballot bags, which the board said would remain secure and monitored and would be counted in accordance with election procedures.
The board put it plainly:
“Let us be absolutely clear: Every eligible vote will be counted.”
Polls had opened at 6 a.m. The county board confirmed the technical difficulties about 90 minutes later, around 7:30 a.m. In New Castle, poll worker Claire Lovell told USA Today it began the moment the doors opened. Past 8 a.m., it was still going. At Lovell’s site, voters slipped their ballots into a secure envelope, she said. That way they could be counted by hand if the machines stayed down.
The state board was in “constant contact” with the county board, said Kathleen McGrath, a spokesperson for the New York State Board of Elections. “Long-established emergency ballot procedures have been implemented, where completed ballots are secured, under bipartisan control, and will be counted,” McGrath said.
New York Attorney General Letitia James said in a post on X that her office is monitoring the scanner issue in Westchester and is in touch with the state and local boards of elections as they work on a solution. Westchester voters could still safely fill out and turn in their ballots at their polling places, she wrote. “Your votes will count,” James wrote.
Rep. Mike Lawler, the Republican seeking reelection in New York’s 17th Congressional District, said in a post on social media that there was a problem with every ballot scanner in the county. “We do not yet know the exact cause of the issue, whether it is the ballot or the machine. The Board of Elections is working with their vendors to resolve it,” Lawler said. His Democratic challenger, Cait Conley, urged voters not to be put off. “There are technical issues with ballot scanners in Westchester, but don’t worry: you can still vote and every vote is being counted! Don’t be dissuaded and have your voice heard,” Conley said.
Westchester makes up a key part of the 17th District, a suburban swing seat Lawler has held for two terms and one of the most competitive House races in the country. The district is rated a toss-up, and its result will help decide control of Congress in the midterm elections. Polls in New York close at 9 p.m. The boards of elections in neighbouring Rockland and Putnam counties reported no problems with their voting machines.
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