Vote-scanning machine malfunction to delay counting in New York’s Westchester County

A judge has granted permission for elections officials in a major New York county to move thousands of paper ballots to a secure warehouse after a technical problem caused vote-scanning machines to malfunction.

The issue will delay the counting of votes in a competitive congressional district until at least 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.

Elections officials said the problem happened when they made a software update for one municipal contest after the machines had been prepared and tested. Machines in the other municipalities continued to use the original software and therefore would not recognize the ballots.

Voters were instructed to put completed ballots in bags that would be safeguarded to be processed later. 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, election officials said.

The Westchester County Board of Elections said the ballot counting was to begin at 11 a.m. Wednesday.

Westchester County is considered the more liberal-leaning part of New York’s 17th Congressional District, which featured a competitive race between GOP Rep. Mike Lawler and Democrat Cait Conley.

Lawler and Conley implored residents to cast their ballots despite the problem and stressed that all votes would be counted.

Lawler said the situation had caused “a lot of frustration, delays, lines and a lot of questions.” But he added at a news conference: “I want to be clear. There’s no shenanigans going on here.”

Despite the delayed counting, Lawler conceded defeat late Tuesday. The Associated Press had not called the race as of early Wednesday.

“When all of the votes are counted tomorrow in Westchester, it’s going to be pretty clear that we will be short,” he said.

Westchester resident Toni Chrystal said she felt “uneasy” after casting her vote Tuesday morning amid the ballot issues.

The real estate broker from White Plains said she completed her ballot around 7 a.m. and then dropped it into one of the designated ballot bags at her polling location as instructed.

“Westchester is one of the richest counties in the state. How does this happen?” she said. “How come they weren’t tested yesterday or a week before? Early voting worked. How does it not work now?”

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Associated Press writers Anthony Izaguirre and Michael R. Sisak contributed to this report.

Ryan J. Foley And Michael Biesecker, The Associated Press