Ballot scanners malfunctioned at polling sites across New York’s Westchester County on Tuesday, prompting election officials to direct voters to place their ballots in emergency bags for later counting. Officials assured voters that every valid vote would be tallied, prioritizing accuracy over speed.
The Westchester County Board of Elections stated that voters should continue to fill out their paper ballots as instructed and that the bagged ballots would be secured and monitored before being counted in accordance with election procedures. The New York State Board of Elections later confirmed on X that the scanners rejected ballots they could not recognize rather than miscalculating them.
The exact cause of the scanner issues was not immediately clear, though the Board of Elections initially cited ballot paper thickness. A spokesperson for Verified Voting, Pamela Smith, noted that paper thickness can sometimes cause problems for scanners, especially if ballots are printed at different times or on different paper stocks. She also mentioned a possibility that scanner programming might have been altered in certain areas, though this claim could not be independently confirmed.
Candidates in the affected districts, including Rep. Mike Lawler and his Democratic opponent Cait Conley in the 17th District, encouraged voters to cast their ballots. State Attorney General Letitia James's office also stated it was monitoring the situation.
Election officials have trained poll workers for such scenarios. When scanners fail, completed ballots are to be stored safely in designated containers and taken to the county office for scanning on larger, potentially more tolerant machines. Smith indicated it is unlikely votes would be counted by hand and that scanning at the county office would likely occur after polls close, without a dramatic delay to the final results. "It might not be counted in the moment, but it will be counted," Smith said.