Westchester County Voting Machine Failures Delay Election Results
Westchester County Board of Elections officials used emergency ballot bags after widespread scanner malfunctions disrupted a tight congressional race between Mike Lawler and Cait Conley.
Widespread technical malfunctions disabled ballot scanners across Westchester County, New York, on November 3, 2026. The Westchester County Board of Elections reported that machines at most polling sites failed to accept paper ballots starting at 6 a.m. While officials initially attributed the failure to the thickness of the paper, they later removed that explanation and have not provided a definitive cause.
To maintain the voting process, officials instructed poll workers to collect ballots in secure orange emergency bags for manual counting. This shift to manual processing is expected to delay results in the closely watched House race between Republican Representative Mike Lawler and Democratic nominee Cait Conley. In response to the failures, Republicans and Democrats are jointly seeking a court order to require centralized ballot tabulation at the County Board of Elections to ensure transparency.
New York Attorney General Letitia James stated her office is monitoring the situation. Both Lawler and Conley urged voters to remain in line and assured them that every vote would be counted. While some Republicans characterized the malfunctions as a deliberate attempt to steal the election, officials described the event as a technical fault.
