Voting machines in Westchester County, New York, the state’s seventh most populous county, are not accepting paper ballots at polling locations throughout the county, the Westchester County Board of Elections said in a statement Tuesday morning.
“The Westchester County Board of Elections (BOE) is aware of an issue involving the paper ballots that is preventing some voting machines from accepting ballots at polling locations throughout the County,” the statement read.
The board relayed that it is communicating with state and county officials and with poll workers to address the issue while repeatedly affirming to voters that all paper ballots will be counted.
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“Voters should continue to complete their paper ballots as instructed by poll workers. Ballots that cannot be processed by voting machines will be placed in designated orange emergency ballot bags, which will remain secure and monitored. These ballots will subsequently be counted,” the BOE said.
In a statement, Westchester County Executive Ken Jenkins said, “My office is fully aware of the ongoing problems with ballots and voting scanners across Westchester County, and I want to be absolutely clear: this situation is unacceptable.
“Voters should remain in line and exercise their right to vote. Every eligible voter will have the opportunity to cast their ballot, and every vote must be counted. I have directed County officials, including representatives from our Law Department, to monitor the voting process and ensure that voters can cast their ballots without interference and that every vote is properly and accurately counted.
“Once these issues are resolved, I will convene a bipartisan team to conduct a thorough review of the decisions and failures that led to this debacle, determine where accountability lies and ensure that this never happens again.
“Westchester County voters deserve a fair, secure and seamless election process. Today, we have fallen short of that standard. The voters deserve better, and I intend to make sure they get it,” Jenkins said.
Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., first alerted voters to an apparent ballot scanner problem in the county in a Tuesday morning post on X.
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“There is a problem with every ballot scanner in Westchester 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 wrote.
“However, every ballot will be counted. Stay on line and vote. Do not leave the polling place without voting,” Lawler’s post concluded.
Lawler also revealed while speaking to CNN reporters outside a polling location in Pearl River, New York, that the issue appeared to be that the paper ballots were too thick to be read by the machines.
“There was an issue with the thickness of the ballot and the formatting of the machines. And so none of the machines were accepting the ballot across the entire county,” Lawler told CNN.
