Voting machines across Westchester County, New York, are refusing to take paper ballots, and the county Board of Elections is telling voters to fill out their ballots anyway and hand them to poll workers.
The board said in a statement Tuesday that it is aware of "an issue involving paper ballots that is preventing voting machines from accepting ballots at polling locations throughout the County." It did not say what is wrong with the ballots, how many of the county's polling places are affected or when the scanners might start working again.
County Executive Ken Jenkins called the situation unacceptable. "My office is fully aware of the ongoing problems with ballots and voting scanners across Westchester County, and I want to be absolutely clear: this situation is unacceptable," he said in his own statement.
What voters should do
Stay in line and vote, both statements say. Polls in Westchester are open from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. Anyone still in line at closing time can vote, which the state Board of Elections lists among a voter's rights.
Voters should mark their paper ballots the way poll workers tell them to. Instead of feeding the ballot into a scanner, workers are putting it into what the board calls a designated orange emergency ballot bag, which it says stays secure and monitored and will be counted "in accordance with applicable election procedures."
The board also wrote: "Let us be absolutely clear: Every eligible vote will be counted. No voter should be discouraged from participating in this election because of this issue."
The board apologized to voters and to poll workers. It said it is in constant contact with state election officials and county government while it works on a fix.
A review is already promised
Jenkins said he has directed county officials, including lawyers from the county Law Department, to watch the voting process and make sure ballots are cast without interference and counted accurately. Once the problem is resolved, he said, 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."
"Westchester County voters deserve a fair, secure and seamless election process," he said. "Today, we have fallen short of that standard."
When results will come
The Board of Elections says unofficial results for Tuesday's general election will be posted shortly after 9 p.m. Ballots sitting in emergency bags have to be scanned or counted by hand after the polls close, so a county whose scanners sat idle for part of Election Day can take longer than usual to post a full unofficial count.
Westchester is the suburban county directly north of New York City. Its voters are choosing a member of Congress on Tuesday, along with state and local offices.
