Ballot scanners stop accepting ballots across Westchester County, New York, on Election Day
Voting machines at polling places across Westchester County, New York, stopped accepting ballots on Tuesday, 3 November, as the US midterm elections got under way. The county Board of Elections blamed an issue with the paper ballots. Voting continues: filled-in ballots are being placed in sealed orange emergency bags and will be counted later, officials said.
Ballot scanners at polling places across Westchester County, just north of New York City, stopped accepting ballots on Tuesday morning, 3 November, as Americans voted in the midterm elections. The problems started when polls opened at 6 a.m. local time, CBS New York reported.
The Westchester County Board of Elections said it was "aware of an issue involving paper ballots that is preventing voting machines from accepting ballots at polling locations throughout the County". It said it was in constant contact with New York State officials, the county government and poll workers, and apologised to voters for the inconvenience.
The Board of Elections statement, posted by Westchester County Government on X:
The Westchester County Board of Elections (BOE) is aware of an issue involving paper ballots that is preventing voting machines from accepting ballots at polling locations throughout the County.
— Westchester Gov (@westchestergov) November 3, 2026
Voters can still cast their ballots. Poll workers check voters in and hand out paper ballots as usual, but completed ballots are placed in designated orange emergency ballot bags instead of being fed into the machines. The board said the bags "will remain secure and monitored" and the ballots will be counted under the normal election procedures. Technicians are being sent to the polling places with problems.
"Every eligible vote will be counted. No voter should be discouraged from participating in this election because of this issue," the board said, urging people to stay in line and vote.
The New York State Board of Elections said voting had not been disrupted. "Long-established emergency ballot procedures have been implemented, where completed ballots are secured, under bipartisan control, and will be counted," it said in a statement quoted by CBS New York. New York Attorney General Letitia James said her office was monitoring the situation and that voters could still safely fill out and hand in their ballots.
The fault matters for one of the most closely watched House races in the country. Westchester makes up a large part of New York's 17th Congressional District, where Republican Rep. Mike Lawler faces Democrat Cait Conley. Lawler said every ballot scanner in the county was affected and that the Board of Elections was working with its vendors; Conley also urged voters not to be put off. Both told voters to stay at their polling place. Officials have not said when the machines will work again, and counting the emergency ballots could slow results in the county, ABC7 New York reported.
Polls in New York close at 9 p.m. Eastern time, which is 04:00 on Wednesday, 4 November, in Romania.