Westchester County Election Machines Reject Ballots Over Programming Error

Voting machines in Westchester County failed to accept paper ballots on Tuesday, affecting the seventh most populous county in New York state. The Board of Elections confirmed the glitch in a statement released in the morning. Officials assured residents that every cast vote would be tallied. They urged voters to remain at their polling locations.

The board traced the problem to a specific programming update. A change in one local contest required new election software. That update was tested and deployed for early voting and for machines in that specific municipality. However, the rest of the county continued running the original code. The older machines could not recognize the new ballot format.

Rep. Mike Lawler, a Republican representing a district that covers much of Westchester, provided a technical explanation. He told CNN that the ballots were too thick for the scanners to read. Lawler stated that the thickness and formatting mismatch prevented any machine in the county from accepting the ballots. He first posted about the issue on X in the morning. He wrote, "However, every ballot will be counted. Stay on line and vote. Do not leave the polling place without voting."

Poll workers handled the rejected ballots using an emergency procedure. They placed the completed paper documents into red or orange bags. Lawler confirmed this method, noting that the machines were being repaired. The Board of Elections instructed voters to continue filling out their ballots as usual. Ballots that the scanners could not process went into designated orange emergency bags. Those bags were kept secure and monitored until counting began.

County Executive Ken Jenkins called the situation unacceptable. He directed county officials, including the Law Department, to oversee the voting process. Jenkins said he would convene a bipartisan team after the issues were resolved. That team would review the decisions and failures behind what he termed a debacle. He stated that the group would determine accountability and prevent future occurrences. Jenkins said, "Westchester County voters deserve a fair, secure and seamless election process. Today, we have fallen short of that standard."

The Board of Elections apologized to voters and poll workers for the delay. They emphasized that no eligible vote would be discarded. The statement said, "Let us be absolutely clear: Every eligible vote will be counted. No voter should be discouraged from participating in this election because of this issue. Your voice matters. Your vote matters. Please stay in line and vote."

Voters expressed mixed reactions to the disruption. Patrick Reagan, a resident of Yonkers who has voted in the county for 40 years, said he hoped the votes would be accounted for correctly. Linda Giaimo, who accompanied a friend to the polls, said she planned to contact the board. She expressed concern about the manual process. Giaimo said, "So now we've got to put our vote in a bag and believe that that bag is going to be delivered. I got a problem with this."

New York Attorney General Letitia James said her office was monitoring the scanner issue. She remained in contact with state and local election officials. James wrote on X that voters could safely fill out and turn in their ballots. She reminded residents of the Election Protection Hotline at (866) 390-2992. Polls in New York opened at 6 a.m. and closed at 9 p.m.

The Board of Elections maintained that the emergency bags remained secure. The orange bags were monitored until the counting process began. Voters were instructed to stay in line despite the mechanical failure. The county continued to process ballots through the manual backup system as the day progressed.