New York attorney general says office monitoring ballot scanning issue in Westchester

Ballot scanners across much of New York’s Westchester County rejected paper ballots when polls opened on 3 November, but voting continued. Poll workers collected completed ballots in secure orange emergency bags for later scanning and counting. New York Attorney General Letitia James said her office was monitoring the problem and was in contact with state and local election officials. She urged voters to keep casting ballots, while the county Board of Elections said every eligible vote would be counted.

The state Board of Elections said a programming change made after equipment had been prepared and tested left many scanners unable to recognise the Election Day ballots. County Executive Ken Jenkins gave a different account, attributing the problem to ballot barcodes; the precise cause remained disputed in the reporting reviewed. Officials worked to restore scanning at polling places and said affected scanners had rejected ballots rather than counted them incorrectly. The disruption affected a county that includes part of a closely contested congressional district, and Jenkins said a bipartisan review would follow the election.