Voting machine glitches hit Westchester County in New York

Voting machines suffered widespread technical malfunctions across Westchester County in southeastern New York on Tuesday, forcing election workers to collect paper ballots manually as voting in US midterm elections continues.

Election administrators instructed poll staff to check in arriving voters normally and deposit cast paper ballots into designated orange bags while technicians deploy to resolve hardware failures across polling sites, local network Westchester News 12 reported, citing the Westchester County Board of Elections (BOE).

The New York State Board of Elections later said on US social media platform X that the problems resulted from an update to election programming after voting equipment had initially been prepared and tested.

A change affecting a contest in one municipality required updated programming, but machines elsewhere in the county continued using the original version and could not recognize the ballots being used, the statement said.

The sealed containers will travel directly to the Board of Elections when the voting closes, and election personnel will count those ballots before tabulating ballots processed through voting machines.

The state board said it is working with Westchester County election officials to install replacement election media carrying the updated programming, which had already been tested during early voting.

The immediate goal is to restore scanning capability to at least one machine at every polling location, with additional machines expected to come online throughout the day.

Officials warned that manual counting procedures could delay initial vote tallies.

New York Attorney General Letitia James noted that her office is monitoring the scanner malfunctions and remains in active contact with state and local election boards as officials work toward a solution.

"Westchester voters can still safely fill out and turn in their ballots at their polling locations," she wrote on X, assuring the electorate: "Your votes will count."

The state board emphasized that the affected scanners rejected ballots they could not recognize rather than incorrectly tabulating them.

It also said there were no identified problems with the ballot paper itself that would prevent it from being scanned once the machines are restored.

The Westchester County Government said the BOE apologizes to voters and poll workers for the inconvenience, and it is taking "every necessary step to address the issue as quickly as possible."

It urged voters to "remain in line, exercise patience and, most importantly, cast their ballots."

The state board said ballots collected under emergency procedures are being securely maintained under bipartisan oversight and will be scanned and counted through established procedures.

It added that ballots cast earlier in the day under the emergency process can also be processed once scanning capability is restored.

Officials stressed that every valid vote would be counted and that regular canvass, recanvass and post-election audit procedures would remain in place, adding that accuracy would not be sacrificed for speed.

Voting disruptions and polling site relocation in Florida

Voting also faced brief interruptions in the state of Florida, where electronic login problems caused delays at several Broward County polling sites, Local 10 News reported.

Technical teams were deployed to fix the electronic system errors, and election officials confirmed voting resumed normally soon after.

Flooding also forced election officials to relocate a polling station in the town of Davie, just north of Miami, moving voters assigned to Precinct 2018 at Paradise Village Clubhouse to Precinct T013 at Treetops Park on Southwest 100th Avenue.