Westchester County, New York, experienced ballot scanner problems Tuesday morning during in-person voting in one of the nation’s most competitive U.S. House races.
The Westchester County Board of Elections announced that voting machines were not accepting paper ballots at polling locations throughout the county.
Republican Rep. Mike Lawler, the incumbent, is defending his seat against Democratic challenger Cait Conley in New York’s 17th Congressional District.
Both candidates called for their supporters to stay in line to vote in person, News 12 in Westchester reported Tuesday morning.
County election officials announced that they were working with the state and would place the paper ballots in emergency ballot bags. The board’s statement said the ballots “will be placed into an designated orange emergency ballots bag.” The statement added, “these ballots will be counted.”
UPDATE on Westchester County voting … the plot thickens … or should I say thins out … Board of Elections removes “thickness” from its previous statement and now says it “is aware of an issue involving paper ballots that is preventing voting machines from accepting… pic.twitter.com/wqqnjMMRSf— Steven Bognar (@Bogs4NY) November 3, 2026
New York Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat, also said the votes will be counted.
My office is monitoring this issue with scanners in Westchester and is in touch with the state and local Boards of Elections as they work on a solution. Westchester voters can still safely fill out and turn in their ballots at their polling locations. Your votes will count. https://t.co/Zm1AerRzsM— NY AG James (@NewYorkStateAG) November 3, 2026
“My office is monitoring this issue with scanners in Westchester and is in touch with the state and local Boards of Elections as they work on a solution,” James said in a post on X. “Westchester voters can still safely fill out and turn in their ballots at their polling locations. Your votes will count.”
Broward County, Florida, also experienced scanner problems, but officials resolved them by late morning, Local 10 News reported Tuesday morning.