Ballot Scanners Fail Across Westchester County, N.Y., on Election Day; Officials Respond

Ballot scanners at most polling sites in Westchester County, New York, stopped accepting paper ballots on Tuesday, prompting state and local officials to respond during in-person voting. The Westchester County Board of Elections said the problem involved the thickness of the paper ballots, which caused machines to reject them. State officials said the scanners stopped accepting votes. New York Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat, said her office was monitoring the scanner issue and was in touch with the state and other officials. The county includes much of the district held by Rep. Mike Lawler, a Republican, who is defending his seat in one of the closest House races this cycle against Democrat Cait Conley. Lawler said on X that every scanner in the county had a problem and that the cause, whether ballot or machine, was not yet known. He said the board was working with its vendors, urged voters to stay in line and not leave without voting, and said every ballot would be counted. He added that his campaign was already in court to have ballots counted in one central location where campaign staff, monitors and attorneys could observe.

Right-leaning outlets, the Washington Examiner and The Daily Signal, frame the failure around the competitive House race. The Examiner's headline says the outage delays counting for Lawler's reelection, and it quotes his posts at length, including his court filing and his assurance that every vote will count. The Daily Signal calls it a problem at the heart of a key battleground district and notes that Lawler is the incumbent. Alternative outlets NewsNation and The Hill focus on the official response, leading with James's statement that her office is monitoring, and describe widespread machine problems without emphasizing Lawler's race in the excerpts provided. Both sides agree on the county-wide scope, the Tuesday timing and the Board of Elections' role. Left-leaning outlets had not reported this story at the time of writing, while right-leaning and alternative outlets had.