Westchester ballots rejected by scanners; voting continues

Westchester voters can still safely fill out and turn in their ballots at their polling locations. Your votes will count.”

—New York Attorney General Letitia James

Latest statement from the Westchester County Board of Elections

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.  The Westchester Board of Elections wants to reassure every voter that your vote matters, your ballot will be secure and your vote will be counted.

The Board of Elections is in constant communication with New York State officials, Westchester County Government and poll workers to address this issue and ensure that voting continues with as little disruption as possible. In the meantime, voters should continue to complete their paper ballots as instructed by poll workers. Ballots will be placed in designated orange emergency ballot bags, which will remain secure and monitored. These ballots will subsequently be counted in accordance with applicable election procedures.

We strongly encourage all voters to remain in line, exercise patience and, most importantly, cast their ballots.

The BOE sincerely apologizes to voters and poll workers for the inconvenience this situation has caused, and the BOE recognizes the importance of a smooth and efficient voting process. They are taking every necessary step to address the issue as quickly as possible.

Let us be absolutely clear: Every eligible vote will be counted. 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.

UPDATE: 10:57 a.m.

The pre-printed Election Day ballots being used across Westchester County were produced by Phoenix Graphics, a Rochester-based company with a history of errors involving election materials. The company, whose election-printing operation is branded Phoenix Graphics Election Printing, describes itself as New York State’s largest supplier of ballot materials and says it serves 46 counties.

Election officials have distinguished Tuesday’s pre-printed ballots from those printed on demand during early voting, when voters did not experience the same scanning problems. 

In 2020, Phoenix Graphics produced absentee ballot packages for Brooklyn voters that included return oath envelopes bearing other voters’ names and addresses. Approximately 99,000 packages from the affected print run were replaced at the company’s expense because officials could not determine precisely which packages contained errors. A subsequent New York City Department of Investigation inquiry found deficiencies in the company’s quality controls but no evidence of intentional interference with the printing or assembly process.

In 2023, Phoenix Graphics acknowledged a separate error involving Nassau County voter information cards that incorrectly identified recipients as Democrats regardless of their actual party affiliations. Election officials said the underlying registration records remained accurate. The company attributed the mistake to human error and agreed to provide corrected cards at no cost to taxpayers.

State campaign-finance filings also document contributions by Phoenix Graphics to organizations associated with both major parties. Between 2010 and 2020, reported contributions included $60,000 combined to two Monroe County Republican committees and $28,400 to the Monroe County Democratic Committee. 

The Westchester County Board of Elections has urged voters to remain in line and complete their ballots as directed by poll workers. Ballots that cannot be scanned are being secured in designated orange emergency ballot bags, which officials said will remain monitored and will be counted in accordance with election procedures.

UPDATE: 9:55 a.m. 

In a statement at 8:16 a.m., the Westchester County Board of Elections cited the thickness of the ballots and later, at 8:37 a.m. it issued a corrected statement and just said “an issue involving paper ballots” across Westchester County is “preventing voting machines from accepting ballots at polling locations.”  Separately, a poll worker has confirmed to Halston Media that the thickness of the ballots is the cause of the scanning problems. 

As Election Day voting got underway Tuesday morning, election workers and candidates told Halston Media that voting machines across Westchester County were down.

As of 8:15 a.m., the machines remained out of service as officials worked to correct the problem.

A Westchester-based poll worker told Halston Media they had received "no explanation" about the cause of the problem and no estimate about when it would be fixed.

Because Westchester uses paper ballots that are then fed into voting machines, voters arriving at the polls have been able to cast their ballots in elections for Congress, state Senate, Assembly, governor, attorney general, comptroller, judges and local offices throughout the Halston Media readership area.

The Westchester County Board of Elections confirmed the countywide problem, according to News 12, and instructed poll workers to check voters in and provide paper ballots. Completed ballots are being placed in what the campaign worker described to Halston Media as "emergency orange bags" while technicians work to resolve the issue.

As of publication, there was no estimate for when the machines would be back in service.

Don Scott, a Republican poll worker serving at District 2 in Mount Kisco, told Halston Media that a source had attributed the scanning problem to the width of the paper ballots.

Scott said Election Day ballots are preprinted and supplied to polling locations in packs, while early-voting ballots are printed on-site as voters arrive.

The Board of Elections said technicians would be dispatched to polling locations experiencing problems.

Another poll worker told Halston Media there was no estimate as to when the machines would be back online but said all votes would be counted.

The bags will be delivered to the Board of Elections at the end of the night, and those ballots will be counted before ballots cast through the machines.

"Let us be absolutely clear: Every eligible vote will be counted. No voter should be discouraged from participating in this election because of this issue," the Board of Elections said in a statement Tuesday morning. "Your voice matters. Your vote matters. Please stay in line and vote."

Scott said most voters at his polling location were “shrugging and going with the flow,” although he described one "irate" voter who left after saying he would return when the machines were working.

Scott expressed concern that reports of the malfunction could discourage participation.

“IMHO, this is going to have a voter suppression effect, as some people will hear that the machines aren't working and won't vote,” he said.

This is a developing story.