State Board Says Westchester's Ballot Scanner Failure Came From an Election Programming Change Made After Testing, Not Paper Thickness; County Executive Promises a Bipartisan Review
The New York State Board of Elections now says the countywide scanner failure in Westchester County came from a change to one municipal contest after equipment was prepared and tested, which required new election programming. The earlier explanation, ballot paper thickness, has been withdrawn. Voters' ballots are in secured emergency bags to be counted, and the Lawler-Conley race in the 17th District may be slow to call.
Officials now have a cause for the ballot scanner failure that hit Westchester County, New York, when polls opened Tuesday, and it is not the one they gave first. The New York State Board of Elections says the scanners were running out-of-date election programming. The Journal News (lohud.com) reports the state board's account, and NBC News reports the state board posted the same explanation on X.
What the state board says. Kathleen McGrath, the state board's director of public information, told the Journal News the problem stemmed from a change affecting a contest in one municipality after the county's Election Day voting equipment had been prepared and tested. The change required an update to the county's election programming. Scanners that kept the original programming could not recognize or accept the ballots in use Tuesday, she said. NBC News quotes the state board's post on X as blaming an "update to the county's election programming that occurred after the initial preparation and testing of Election Day voting equipment."
The old explanation is gone. The county Board of Elections first said the problem involved the thickness of the paper ballots. That is the explanation in our earlier report, linked below. The Journal News reports the county board withdrew that statement, and that McGrath said officials found no problem with the paper or any other ballot characteristic that would keep the ballots from scanning once the equipment issue is fixed. Axios also reported the thickness explanation had been removed from the county's statement.
What is being done. McGrath said the state board is working with the county board to supply replacement election media carrying the updated programming. She said the programming had been tested during early voting and included the correct races for the county. Her stated priority is to get at least one working scanner at every polling place, with more brought online through the day. She also said the affected scanners rejected ballots they could not recognize and that no votes were counted incorrectly. The state board had found no similar equipment problems outside Westchester as of Tuesday afternoon, the Journal News reports.
What happens to the ballots. The county Board of Elections said completed ballots that could not be scanned are being placed in orange emergency ballot bags that stay secure and monitored, and will be counted under applicable procedures. McGrath said: "Every valid vote will be counted, and the established canvass, recanvass and post-election audit procedures will remain in place. Accuracy will never be sacrificed for speed."
The county executive's response. In a statement posted on the county's website, County Executive Ken Jenkins, a Democrat, called the situation "unacceptable" and said that once it is resolved he will "convene a bipartisan team to conduct a thorough review of the decisions and failures that led to this debacle, determine where accountability lies and ensure that this never happens again." NBC News reports he also said the county board is responsible for running the election, and described the problem as a "glitch" and a "printer-problem" while acknowledging officials "don't know why that exactly happened." NBC's entry is stamped 1:43 p.m. Eastern and does not say how his remark relates to the state board's explanation. As of noon Tuesday, the Journal News reports, Jenkins said the county board had not signaled that voting hours would need to be extended, because voters could still cast emergency ballots.
The race. Parts of Westchester are in New York's 17th District, where Republican Rep. Mike Lawler faces Democrat Cait Conley. Cook Political Report rates it a toss-up. NBC News reports the problem could delay the result. New York polls close at 9 p.m. Eastern (8 p.m. Central). The Associated Press has not called the race, and we will report it as called only when the AP does so. Any count we report is unofficial until New York certifies it.
What is still not known. The excerpts of the state board's account that we could read do not say which municipality's contest changed, who requested the change, or why it was made after testing. We did not find an answer to those questions. Nothing we found reports that anyone acted on purpose, and we are not suggesting it. The state board's account is the only explanation on the record, and we have not independently verified it. We also do not know how many voters left without voting or how many ballots are in emergency bags. We could read only part of the Journal News story, and the quotes above are from the portions we could access. We could not see the county Board of Elections' updated statement beyond its first version.
Sources: The Journal News / lohud.com, "Westchester voting problems traced to programming issue, state officials say," Nov. 3, 2026: https://www.lohud.com/story/news/2026/11/03/westchester-voting-ballot-scanner-programming-issue/92588543007. NBC News live updates, entry on Westchester County Executive Ken Jenkins, posted 1:43 p.m. ET: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2026-election/live-blog/midterm-election-results-2026-news-trump-live-updates-rcna605763. Westchester County, "County Executive Ken Jenkins Statement on Ballot Issues in Westchester County," Nov. 3, 2026: https://www.westchestercountyny.gov/all-press-releases/westchester-county-executive-ken-jenkins-statement-on-ballot-issues-in-westchester-county. Westchester County Board of Elections statement, Nov. 3, 2026: https://www.westchestercountyny.gov/all-press-releases/statement-from-the-westchester-county-board-of-elections. Halston Media Group, "Jenkins calls Election Day voting issues 'unacceptable'," Nov. 3, 2026: https://news.halstonmedia.com/stories/westchester-county-executive-ken-jenkins-calls-election-day-voting-issues-unacceptable,101952. Axios, "Voting machine chaos hits key House battleground," Nov. 3, 2026: https://www.axios.com/2026/11/03/ny-voting-ballot-polls-ballot-issue. Associated Press 2026 election results page: https://apnews.com/projects/elections-2026/. Our earlier report: /articles/westchester-county-ballot-scanners-reject-paper-ballots-ny-17-lawler-conley-cbs-new-york/. Our Election Headquarters: /election/ny-17/ and /election/