Kathy Hochul Blames ‘Glitch’ for Polling Machines Issue in Westchester, NY - Newsweek

New York Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul assured residents in Westchester County that their votes would be counted on Tuesday after ballot scanners experienced problems accepting paper ballots.

“Every vote is going to be counted,” Hochul said, describing the problem as a “glitch” and urging people to continue voting.

The Westchester County Board of Elections confirmed that a problem involving paper ballots was preventing voting machines from accepting them at polling places throughout the county. Officials said emergency procedures were being used to allow voting to continue.

Completed ballots were being secured in designated orange emergency ballot bags to be counted under established election procedures, according to county officials.

Westchester County Executive Ken Jenkins said during a press conference that up to 250,000 ballots have been impacted.

Newsweek reached out to Jenkins by email Tuesday for further comment.

The New York State Board of Elections said in a statement the problem stemmed from an update to the county’s election programming after the initial preparation and testing of Election Day equipment.

While updated programming was deployed in one municipality, machines elsewhere in the county continued using the original programming and “could not recognize and accept the ballots being used for Election Day.”

The board stressed that the scanners rejected ballots rather than incorrectly recording them, adding that “every valid vote will be counted” and “accuracy will never be sacrificed for speed.”

Westchester County, immediately north of New York City, has an estimated population of 1,015,743, according to the latest available U.S. Census Bureau estimate. The county has leaned Democratic in recent presidential elections. Former Vice President Kamala Harris received about 63 percent of the county’s vote in 2024, compared with roughly 37 percent for President Donald Trump.

Speaking to reporters, Hochul repeatedly sought to reassure voters in the county that the problems would not prevent their ballots from being counted.

“Every vote is going to be counted. I just had to say that every time, every vote will be counted,” she said.

Hochul said the state and county boards of elections were coordinating their response and that contingency measures were available.

“Voters in Westchester should feel very confident that they should show up. They should continue to vote. If they're in line, stay in line, and there is a backup plan that's planned for all the contingencies,” she said.

The governor continued: “The state board of elections and the county board of elections are working through coordination to make sure we get through this. We understand that there's been a glitch, but every vote is going to be counted.”

New York Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat, wrote in an X post that her office is monitoring the issue and "is in touch with the state and local Boards of Elections as they work on a solution," adding that "Westchester voters can still safely fill out and turn in their ballots at their polling locations. Your votes will count."

Westchester County officials also acknowledged widespread problems with ballots and scanners.

Jenkins said in a statement that officials were aware of “the ongoing problems with ballots and voting scanners across Westchester County.”

“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.

The New York State Board of Elections said in a statement that the affected ballots would remain secure under bipartisan control and be counted, while established contingency procedures allowed voting to continue.

The disruption came as voters cast ballots in New York's midterm elections, including the governor's race between incumbent Hochul and Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, a Republican. New York is also home to competitive congressional contests that could help determine control of the U.S. House of Representatives, with the state's 3rd, 4th and 17th Congressional Districts among the competitive races to watch.

More than 1.27 million advance ballots had already been cast across New York before Election Day.

Officials urged voters to continue going to their assigned polling locations and remain in line.

The polls in the Empire State are open until 9 p.m.

Newsweek’s reporters and editors used Martyn, our AI assistant, to produce this story. Learn more about Martyn here. Contact Newsweek editors for this story: Gabe Whisnant and Anthony Murray.