Ballot scanners went down across New York’s Westchester County, forcing poll workers to use emergency procedures in a Democratic county where a Republican congressman faces a toss-up race as his support for President Donald Trump is expected to cost him votes.
The Westchester County Board of Elections confirmed a countywide voting machine problem Tuesday, News 12 reported. Scanners at most polling sites stopped accepting ballots after the polls opened at 6 a.m., CBS New York reported.
Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY), whose district includes most of northern Westchester, is seeking reelection against Democratic challenger Cait Conley, CBS reported.
County Executive Ken Jenkins (D-NY) said there was no word on when the problem would be fixed, CBS noted. The county board later said the paper ballots were too thick for the machines to accept.
Voters are still receiving paper ballots, which poll workers are placing in orange bags, News 12 reported. The bags will go to the board at the end of the night, and those ballots will be counted before ballots cast through the machines.
“None of the three machines here will accept the voter’s completed ballots,” Bill Moss, who identified himself as a poll worker in Irvington, wrote on X. “We are tallying the paper ballots using emergency procedures and collecting them for later manual counting.”
“We’re all following emergency procedures and putting the ballots in a secure bag,” Claire Lovell, who identified herself as a poll worker in the 17th Congressional District, wrote on X.
At Ridgeway Elementary School in White Plains, a caller told News 12 that some voters were uncomfortable leaving their ballots in bags and were looking to vote elsewhere.
“Your votes will count,” New York Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat, wrote on X, according to News 12. She said voters can still safely fill out and submit their ballots at their polling places.
“Every ballot will be counted,” Lawler wrote in a social media post. “Do not leave the polling place without voting.”
The county is the most Democratic part of the district Lawler is defending, in a race either party could win.
In 2024, The Examiner, a local newspaper, described Westchester as the district’s Democratic base. That year, the county backed former Vice President Kamala Harris over President Donald Trump 63% to 37%, The Recorder reported.
The Cook Political Report moved the race to a toss-up in January, and an Emerson College poll for PIX11 found Conley at 48% and Lawler at 46%, The Guardian reported. The Guardian also reported that Trump’s declining approval ratings are adding pressure on Republicans nationwide.
Two counties where Lawler ran strongest reported no trouble, but a Republican congresswoman still blamed Democrats.
The Rockland and Putnam county boards of elections reported no problems with voting machines, according to News 12. Lawler won 60% of the vote across Rockland, Putnam and Dutchess in 2024, The Recorder reported.
“No surprise,” Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-NY) wrote on X, sharing Lovell’s first post. “The Democrats in NY will do anything and everything to cheat.”
“The issue is being worked on diligently by the Board of Elections in a bipartisan manner,” Conley explained on Facebook.
“What’s happening in Westchester is a big problem, but not as bad as it might seem at first,” Jeff Coltin, editor-in-chief of City & State, wrote on X at 8:03 a.m., sharing a post by Josh Carey that said, “the paper ballot record is unaffected.”
“Unless this gets fixed very quickly… we might not be getting definitive NY-17 results in the Lawler-Conley race tonight,” Coltin had written at 7:20 a.m.
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