Westchester County Ballot Scanners Fail on Election Day; Emergency Paper Ballots Secured for Later Counting
Ballot-scanning equipment at multiple polling places in Westchester County, New York, failed to read paper ballots on November 3, forcing voters to place completed ballots in orange emergency bags. The problem appeared after polls opened in the morning and affected polling locations across the county. County officials initially said a paper-related issue was preventing scanners from reading ballots. The New York State Board of Elections later identified the cause as an election-programming update that had not been applied to some machines. Local and state officials said voting could continue and that ballots placed in emergency bags would be counted under established procedures.
CBS New York reported that scanners at multiple Westchester polling locations began rejecting ballots after polls opened at 6 a.m. County Executive Ken Jenkins initially said a printing or paper problem was making ballots unreadable to the machines. Voters were instructed to complete paper ballots and place them in orange emergency bags for later counting.
The county Board of Elections said the bags would remain secure and monitored and that the ballots would subsequently be counted according to election procedures. The towns of Mount Pleasant and Pleasantville shared the board's statement, urging residents to remain in line and continue voting.
Early in the day, local officials said the issue might involve ballot-paper thickness. ABC7 later reported that the New York State Board of Elections identified a programming problem. After county voting equipment had been prepared and tested, a change affecting a contest in one municipality required an update to the election programming. Some scanners still had the earlier programming and could not recognize the ballots being used.
The state board said the problem was not caused by the paper itself or another physical characteristic of the ballots. Technicians began reprogramming the equipment, with the immediate priority of restoring at least one working scanner at every polling location before bringing additional machines back online. Emergency ballots already placed in bags would be processed after the equipment was restored.
The disruption occurred in New York's closely watched 17th Congressional District, which includes parts of Westchester County. Republican incumbent Mike Lawler and Democratic challenger Cait Conley both urged voters not to leave polling places because of the equipment problem. Lawler said every ballot would be counted, while Conley said the technical issue did not take away voters' right to participate.
New York Attorney General Letitia James said her office was in contact with state and local election officials. The state Board of Elections said established emergency-ballot procedures would keep ballots secure and under bipartisan control until they could be counted. The county said polling places would still close at 9 p.m. and did not need to remain open later because of the equipment failure.
In later reports on November 3, election officials had not said that ballots were missing or that vote totals had been altered. The problem was that scanners could not read ballots, forcing some voters to use a paper emergency procedure. Once equipment was reprogrammed, ballots stored in emergency bags would be processed under the established rules. Officials stressed that every eligible vote would be counted.
The disruption could slow local counting and create longer lines and uncertainty for voters, but it is not evidence of election fraud. Results still need to be counted, reconciled and certified by county and state election authorities through the formal process.