A judge granted permission to move ballots in Westchester County, New York to a secure warehouse after vote-scanning machines malfunctioned when polls opened Tuesday.
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A judge has allowed election officials in Westchester County, New York, to move thousands of paper ballots to a secure warehouse after a technical problem caused vote-scanning machines to malfunction.
The issue delayed vote counting in New York’s 17th Congressional District, a competitive seat where GOP Rep. Mike Lawler and Democrat Cait Conley are running, until at least Wednesday. Westchester County Board of Elections said ballot counting was scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. Wednesday.
The New York Board of Elections said machines at locations throughout Westchester County would not accept paper ballots when polls opened Tuesday because of a programming glitch. Election officials said the problem occurred after a software update for one municipal contest was made after the machines had already been prepared and tested.
Officials said machines in other municipalities continued using the original software, which meant they would not recognize ballots. Voters were instructed to place completed ballots in bags that would be safeguarded for later processing.
Election officials said the bags were to be transported under police escort to a county warehouse to be scanned and counted under the supervision of representatives of political parties.
Lawler and Conley urged residents to vote despite the problem and said all votes would be counted. Lawler said the situation led to “a lot of frustration, delays, lines and a lot of questions,” adding at a news conference, “I want to be clear. There’s no shenanigans going on here.”
Westchester resident Toni Chrystal said she felt “uneasy” after casting her ballot Tuesday morning. The White Plains real estate broker said she completed her ballot around 7 a.m., then dropped it into a designated ballot bag at her polling location as instructed, asking, “Westchester is one of the richest counties in the state. How does this happen?”
She also questioned why the issue was not prevented earlier, saying, “How come they weren’t tested yesterday or a week before? Early voting worked. How does it not work now?”
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