Programming glitch disrupts voting at numerous sites in Westchester County
Poll worker Dana Brown helps feed a voter's ballot into an emergency ballot bag at a polling site in Pelham on Tuesday. Credit: AP Photo/Seth Wenig
A programming issue with voting machines caused problems at numerous Westchester County polls on Election Day.
Paper ballots that could not be scanned because of a glitch were placed in designated orange emergency ballot bags, which "will remain secure and monitored," according to the Westchester Board of Elections.
The agency made a plea to frustrated voters Tuesday morning as trouble emerged.
"Every eligible vote will be counted," the board said in a statement. "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."
It was not immediately clear if many voters decided to forgo voting or left because of the issue.
Westchester is the site of a hotly contested congressional race between Republican incumbent Rep. Mike Lawler and Democrat Cait Conley. In separate social media posts, the candidates told voters they should still cast their ballots.
During a midday press conference, Lawler said his and Conley's campaigns have been working in a bipartisan way to come to a solution with both the state and county election boards.
Emergency ballots in the county will be picked up by bipartisan election officials and escorted by police to a counting location tonight, Lawler told reporters. The county’s Board of Elections will process around 2,000 votes an hour, with results expected in the early morning, he said.
The New York State Board of Elections said the problem stemmed from a programming update that took place after the voting equipment was tested.
"A change affecting a contest in one municipality required updated election programming, which was subsequently tested and deployed for early voting and for Election Day machines in that municipality," the agency said in a statement. "However, Election Day machines elsewhere in the county continued to use the original programming and therefore could not recognize and accept the ballots being used for Election Day."
The Board of Elections said the ballots will be scanned and counted as part of established procedures.
"There are no identified concerns with the ballot paper or other physical characteristics that would affect its ability to be scanned," the agency said. "Importantly, the affected scanners rejected ballots they could not properly recognize rather than incorrectly tabulating them."
Speaking at an Election Day stop in Queens, Gov. Kathy Hochul said Westchester voters should feel confident because a backup plan is in place. "We plan for all the contingencies," she said.
Suffolk County previously used a voting system in which ballots were hand-marked by the voter and then fed into a scanner. This year it moved to a touch screen system called ExpressVoteXL. Nassau County still uses hand-marked ballots that are fed into a scanner, but started using a new system this year called Clear Cast Go.
Lisa joined Newsday as a staff writer in 2019. She previously worked at amNewYork, the New York Daily News and the Asbury Park Press covering politics, government and general assignment.
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